Free Republic

The exposed nightmare in Ukraine-controlled Severodonetsk shocked the inhabitants of Donbass. The fears of people aren't unfounded: the facts emerging on the surface about the events in UAF-controlled territory is only a small fragment of the criminal canvas that is the present Ukrainian reality.As was reported, the Kiev Armed Forces, together with the Ukrainian authorities of Severodonetsk, organized a children's brothel in the city's boarding school. The so-called administration of the Severodonetsk general education boarding school for orphaned children forces minor pupils on both genders to perform sexual acts with customer-pedophiles from among the military personnel, militants of national battalions,...

Ukraine remains one of Europe’s most notorious sources of human trafficking. Since 1991, over 160,000 men, women, and children have been exploited for labor, sex, forced begging, and organ removal, according to a mid-2015 report from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).Ukraine’s Ministry of Social Policy, with recommendations from domestic and international nongovernmental organizations, is currently in the final stages of updating the country’s five-year action plan on combating human trafficking.

rtificial intelligence (AI) could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs, a report by investment bank Goldman Sachs says. It could replace a quarter of work tasks in the US and Europe but may also mean new jobs and a productivity boom. And it could eventually increase the total annual value of goods and services produced globally by 7%. Generative AI, able to create content indistinguishable from human work, is "a major advancement", the report says.

VIDEOWho out there would actually pay $4.50 for the weekday edition of a newspaper consisting of only 26 pages total? That is an even bigger mystery than how newspapers think they can get away with charging that much for their ultra-thin newspapers. Oh, and I would love to know the TRUE circulation numbers of the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. I've seen the "official" circulation figure and no way does the real circulation come close to what they are pretending for the benefit of the few advertisers they have left.

Pfizer and BioNTech said Monday they are seeking Emergency Use Authorization for an updated COVID-19 bivalent booster vaccine for children ages 6 months to 4 years old, but critics said the vaccines are obsolete and too risky.Pfizer and BioNTech are seeking Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for an updated COVID-19 bivalent “booster” vaccine for children ages 6 months to 4 years old.Pfizer on Monday said if the bivalent booster receives EUA, children in this age group will receive two doses of the original COVID-19 vaccine, followed by a dose of the “updated” vaccine targeting Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.Previously, children under...

Can collaborative robots work with humans? Robots are filling more jobs than ever before, a trend that was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, a shrinking pool of willing workers and new innovations that reduced the cost of automation for smaller companies. FAIRFIELD, Ohio — Editor's note: An earlier version of this story erroneously reported the cost of the cobot at the Fairfield Skyline. A Skyline restaurant in Fairfield has a new server that rolls through a 12-hour shift while treating customers to songs like "Happy Birthday" and the "Skyline Time" jingle. While it isn't getting paid hourly, it costs about...

While claiming to “preserve peace,” NATO has a history of bombing civilians and committing war crimes.The three smartest words that Donald Trump uttered during his presidential campaign are “NATO is obsolete.” His adversary, Hillary Clinton, retorted that NATO was “the strongest military alliance in the history of the world.” Now that Trump has been in power, the White House parrots the same worn line that NATO is “the most successful Alliance in history, guaranteeing the security, prosperity, and freedom of its members.” But Trump was right the first time around: Rather than being a strong alliance with a clear purpose,...

The Supreme Court's clear message to President Donald Trump: Stop ‘The beginning of the end’: First shipment of COVID vaccines will arrive… CNN logoFrench army gets ethical go-ahead for bionic soldiers The French armed forces now have permission to develop "augmented soldiers" following a report from a military ethics committee. he report, released to the public on Tuesday, considers medical treatments, prosthetics and implants that improve "physical, cognitive, perceptive and psychological capacities," and could allow for location tracking or connectivity with weapons systems and other soldiers.

Last week’s lopsided showdown between a human F-16 pilot and an artificially intelligent one — the robot won 5-0 — was just the latest sign that we need to be thinking harder about the changes that smart machines are bringing to the battlefield. Among them: as relatively cheap robots play larger roles, the focus of warfare will shift to attacking and defending the humans that operate, maintain, and even build them. Now and for the foreseeable future, military robots still need humans. Robots are not (yet) capable of the complex thinking required for warfare; advances in speed and computational power...

The following comments are based on the article, "NBC's Matt Lauer confronts Trump over his tweeting: Are you having a 'difficult time breaking' this habit?" from Business Insider.This morning on NBC’s “Today” show Matt Lauer talked to Donald Trump about his tweet addiction. Matt asked “I have not see you backing off fights on Twitter,” referring to Trump's attacks on Boeing for cost overruns, the cast of Hamilton, The New York Times, “Saturday Night Live,” and the media in general. Trump replied "No, I think I am very restrained, and I talk about important things.” Trump went on to...

 1. Cable TVThough cable providers still have plenty of subscribers — roughly 101 million Americans, in 2015, according to research firm IBISWorld — those numbers are declining.2. Name-brand razorbladesAmericans love their Gillette razorblades — so much so that the shaving giant controls nearly 70% of the nearly $13 billion shaving industry ...3. Bottled waterWho would pay $2 for what amounts to a bottle of tap water?4. Credit monitoring services and identity theft insuranceThe year 2015 saw more than 732 data breaches as of Dec. 8, according to the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center — with more than 176 million records...

Evan Baehr and Will Davis, were summoned to Washington for a meeting with the Postmaster General. Evan and Will wondered what it could be, "They must have seen the recent coverage in CNBC, maybe they'll help our company expand?" Or, "maybe they wanted the traditional photo opportunity and positive media buzz that political actors care so much about. Surely their company made the Post Office look good, right?" But when the Postmaster General came out to meet them, the stark reality became clear, they weren't interested in a photo-op.As Evan and Will describe it: "This 30-minute meeting was the end...

Just like facts and flies, English words have life-spans. Some are thousands of years old, from before English officially existed, others change, or are replaced or get ditched entirely. Here are 18 uncommon or obsolete words that we think may have died early. We found them in two places: a book called "The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten" by Jeffrey Kacirk, and on a blog called Obsolete Word of The Day that's been out of service since 2010. Both are fantastic- you should check them out.

Maybe being "out of touch" isn't a bad thing.

If you're in the market for a new set of wheels, you might be surprised to find out that your spiffy new car may not have spare tire - and instead be equipped with a sealant kit. In 2010 the U.S. Department of Transportation required new vehicles to meet certain fuel efficiency standards. In order to meet the new mandate, some car makers are doing away with traditional spare tires and the corresponding tools to bring the car's overall weight down. Tara Hanley of AAA MountainWest noted, "Our first concern was that motorists were aware of it and that they...

Have we lost ye, Michele Bachmann? The answer would seem to be yes, as the sharp-tongued, googly-eyed Minnesota Congresswoman suspended her presidential campaign after receiving only five per cent of the Iowa Caucus vote in the state where she was born. To put that in perspective, Michele Bachmann only got 6,000 more votes in Iowa than Johann Sebastian Bach. It was the culmination of a stunning turn of events over the past few months, after her candidacy surged when she won the Iowa straw poll in August. Soon afterwards, however, her poll numbers went south faster than General William Tecumseh...

Halloween is nearly here, and the next big holiday is Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas. But in our house, Christmas season has already begun, and our family can't get enough of it. We have already begun watching our Christmas DVDs. And since my last viewing of It's A Wonderful Life, I now have a nominee for our next president: George Bailey. Sure, he is a fictional character, but as a country, we have done worse.

Is marriage becoming obsolete in America? Nearly one in three American children is living with a parent who is divorced, separated or never-married. More people are accepting the view that wedding bells aren't needed to have a family. A study by the Pew Research Center, in association with Time magazine, highlights rapidly changing notions of the American family. And the Census Bureau, too, is planning to incorporate broader definitions of family when measuring poverty, a shift caused partly by recent jumps in unmarried couples living together. About 29 percent of children under 18 now live with a parent or parents...

Here is the list of Apple products that will be considered as obsolete on December 14th. After that date, Apple will not provide support or spare parts for those devices: iBook (800 MHz VRAM 32 MB ) iBook (900 MHz VRAM 32 MB) iBook (14.1 LCD 900 MHz VRAM 32 MB) iMac (2003 flat screen) PowerBook G4 (17") PowerBook G4 (12") PowerBook G4 (15" 1.67/1.5GHz) PowerBook G4 (17" 1.67Ghz) iBook G4 (12" and 14" end of 2004) Power Mac G5 (early 2005) Mac G5 ALS (17" and 20") AirPort Extreme (early 2003)

September 16, 2010The New O Word is 'obsolete' Jay Valentine This week was the turning point when the Republican establishment finally "got it." The Tea Party is going to make a difference; they are going to change political lives as has not been seen in a generation. An entire class of Republicans, many still in Congress, is obsolete. Obsolete has no modifiers. You are obsolete or you are not. You cannot be partially hip to a new way of thinking, a new way of doing things. Because it is so binary -- you are or you are not, so many...