Free Republic

inland has decided to end its experiment with a universal basic income, in which people are paid an unconditional salary by the state instead of benefits. The idea of a universal basic income has high-profile champions such as Richard Branson, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. But the Finnish government's enthusiasm for a pilot scheme, a European first which garnered worldwide attention, is petering out. Calls for extra funding for it were rejected and the two year trial will not be extended after next year.

Researchers mapped the arrival routes of pottery and people representing the Corded Ware Culture complex (c. 2900-2300 BCE) into the Nordic countries by identifying the areas where the pottery was made. Corded Ware pottery was very different from earlier Stone Age pottery. It represented a new technology and style, and as a new innovation, used crushed ceramics -- or broken pottery -- mixed in with the clay. Finland, Estonia and Sweden had at least five different manufacturing areas for Corded Ware pottery which engaged in active pottery trade across the Baltic Sea approximately 5000 years ago. Häme in Southern Finland...

Citizens from more than 30 countries around the world appealed to the UN Secretary-General to suspend UN Human Rights Commissioner Zaid Ra'ad al-Hussein after calling Judea and Samaria communities a "war crime", following the latest report he issued regarding the pace of construction for Jews in Judea and Samaria. "While tens of thousands of people are being slaughtered in Syria, and while women's rights are being disregarded in Iran, the Human Rights Commissioner is issuing a report on the settlement movement in Israel, which details construction information, calling it a war crime", mentioned the letter. "The Commissioner' s obsession with...

Rankings: A new report claims that Finland is the happiest out of 156 countries around the world. What the report really shows, however, is the futility of these types of international comparisons.XThe annual ranking, put out by the U.N.-sponsored Sustainable Development Solutions Network, is based on the findings of the Gallup World Poll, which conducts national surveys in more than 160 countries.The other of the top five "happiest countries" on this year's list are Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland. The U.S. came in 18th place, down from 14th last year.The findings generated widespread coverage, and to some on the left,...

Two new studies report an increased risk of psychosis among smokers of not only marijuana, but tobacco, too. The tobacco study has now been published in the journal Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, and the marijuana study — which was conducted by the same team — has now been published in The British Journal of Psychiatry. Research has found links between psychosis and both tobacco and marijuana smoking — particularly in regard to schizophrenia-related psychosis. However, the precise reasons why people who experience psychosis are more likely to smoke are not clear. Some scientists think that smoking might act as a kind...

If Mark Zuckerberg and a janitor who works at Facebook’s headquarters each received a speeding ticket while driving home from work, they’d each owe the government the same amount of money. Mr. Zuckerberg wouldn’t bat an eye. The janitor is another story. For people living on the economic margins, even minor offenses can impose crushing financial obligations, trapping them in a cycle of debt and incarceration for nonpayment. In Ferguson, Mo., for example, a single $151 parking violation sent a black woman struggling with homelessness into a seven-year odyssey of court appearances, arrest warrants and jail time connected to her...

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/05/customer-satisfaction-at-the-push-of-a-button     Invented in Finland!From the New Yorker mag which is banned but I ask Jim Robinson for an exception---LINK only of course

The North Korea talks in Finland will include American representatives who are not government officials, said Kimmo Lahdevirta, an official at the Finland foreign ministry. The US does not have a diplomatic presence in North Korea. South Korea's Foreign Ministry told CNN that former officials and private experts from South Korea would be at the "second-tier" talks on denuclearization. The ministry suggested the US would also be represented in some way, without giving details. Lahdevirta described the meeting as a "track 1.5 academic meeting ... involving representatives from North Korea, South Korea and the US." So-called "track 1.5 talks" bring...

The time to plow is over for the seeds are bearing fruit for I have gone before you as David in the Valley of Breakthrough . So speak and declare My Words of Righteousness given to all those that believe on Me for "Truly" The Harvest is ready to be brought into the Storehouse That is , "My Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven" for "Truly" You "ARE " My Keepers of My Love and ONE True Light EMMANUEL ( God with us ) JOHN 4:34-38 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will...

Finnish Ministry of Defense The U.S. State Department recently approved the potential sale to Finland of more than $800 million worth of RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles, Mk 41 vertical launch systems, and other associated items. Depending on how that country decides to proceed with its Squadron 2020 naval modernization program, some of those systems could go into a new class of ice-breaking multi-purpose corvettes, as well as end up on older ships as part of various planned upgrade projects. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the U.S. military’s main foreign military sales office, announced the...

The oldest standing log cabin the US - including George Washington-era artifacts - has been put on sale for $2.9 million. Nothnagle Log House was built around 1640 by Finnish settlers in the New Sweden Colony along the Delaware. The territory was taken over by the Dutch in 1655, but the magnificent 375-year-old oak cabin still stands in what is now New Jersey. It is owned and operated as a tour site by Harry Rink, 88, and his wife Doris, 75, of Greenwich Township. They are now looking for a buyer willing to accept their unique demands. The new owner...

With elections coming up this year in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and perhaps Italy, European intelligence services across the Continent have been sounding the alarm about Russian attempts to influence the outcome though targeted disinformation and propaganda, as they appeared to do in the U.S. presidential election. That brand of information war can range from pushing fake news stories and conspiracy theories to fanning the flames of existing problems — all serving to undermine public confidence in governments and institutions. Elsewhere in the Baltics and former Soviet Union, Russian-linked disinformation has worked to stoke panic and force...

The leaders of the Jewish communities of four Nordic countries said that a bill proposing to ban nonmedical circumcision in Iceland “will guarantee” that no Jewish community is established there. The presidents of the umbrella groups of Jewish communities in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland issued the unusual warning Tuesday in an open letter to all Icelandic lawmakers in reaction to the submission last month of a bill proposing to ban all nonmedical circumcision of boys younger than 18 in Iceland, a Scandinavian island nation of some 300,000 people with a few hundred Jews and Muslims. Lawmakers from four parties...

Western Europe’s last naturally caused famine ended 150 years ago this winter. In a poor and backward part of the Russian empire called Finland, more than a quarter of a million people – nearly 10% of the population – starved to death. Last year, on the centenary of its independence, Finland was ranked, by assorted international indices, the most stable, the safest and the best-governed country in the world. It was also the third wealthiest, the third least corrupt, the second most socially progressive and the third most socially just.

A Huffington Post blog, "Hillary As An Agent of Change," authored by Derek Shearer was posted yesterday to reassure the "progressives" that Hillary Clinton is really one of their own. Despite the common view among the left that Hillary is a status quo type, Shearer lets us know that she is really quite liberal as you can see in these excerpts: ... Hillary would be a strong leader who manages change in the public interest-at home and abroad--in the manner of FDR or Harry Truman. She is, in fact, the true heir to the New Deal tradition of the Democratic Party,...

Your burdens are mine says The Lord, So cast all your worries on me and lay down your sword, For I AM Dominion over all, I decide what stands and what falls, I raise up kings and kingdoms I am above all domains, My spirit crushes all that profanes My name, So be at Peace for I AM your all , Allow My Peace to stand you tall, For I AM your plumb line , your standard and frame, Just Worship me for I AM your Fame, Nothing else matters but your relationship with Me, I AM your Tree of...

Her eurosceptic rhetoric sounds a lot like that of former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, even telling of her admiration for the 53-year-old’s Brexit campaign as she told supporters to “take their country back”. She said: “I look at Nigel Farage’s example. It took 17 years, but Brexit came. “I don’t plan to wait that long.” She claims the EU has turned “Finland into its province” and has railed against the country’s political elite, who she argues do not represent the working class.

‘The freedom of speech in Finland doesn’t look very good for LGBT people. In 2013 Finnish imam Abbas Bahmanpour compared homosexuality to incest and told in live TV-show, that gays should be punished to death. If that isn’t incitement, what is then? Bahmanpour has never been challenged with his thoughts in court.’ The whole Europe must wake up, when violent teachings of the Quran are coming true. We must start loving our beautiful values and say no to Islamization of Europe. This 300€ charge won’t stop me for warning Finland and Europe about Islam.

The PC Police are at it again in Finland. This time they’re chasing down a politician who dared to post uncomplimentary things about Islam on the Internet. Here’s the story from Tundra Tabloids: Finland: Police investigate gay politician once again for posting about Islam Sebastian Tynkkynen (FB) is a Finnish politician who has been at the forefront in creating awareness about Islamization in Finland. He had been investigated earlier by a heavily politicized Finnish police department over his Facebook postings in August of 2016, and went to trial almost exactly a year ago today, and was eventually found guilty of...

This is the Game of Thrones-themed hotel that has been carved entirely out of ice and snow and comes complete with dragons, direwolves and even the dreaded White Walkers. The hotel has been built in collaboration with HBO, the network behind the smash-hit series, and has opened at Lapland Hotels Snow Village in Finland. Intricate ice sculptures depicting themes and characters from the show grace the 14 bedrooms and 10 suites with one room even featuring an enormous carving of a demonic White Walker looming over the bed.