Free Republic

Apprente staff, which includes employees with PhDs in machine learning and computational linguistics, will become part of McDonald's Global Technology team following the acquisition. American fast food giant McDonald’s Corporation has entered into an agreement to acquire Apprente, a Silicon Valley start-up founded by Israelis that specializes in conversational voice-based technology. The acquisition of the company, McDonald’s said, will “allow for faster, simpler and more accurate ordering at the Drive-Thru,” and could be incorporated into mobile ordering and kiosks in the future. No financial details were disclosed regarding the acquisition of the company, which has raised $4.8 million in two...

“The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He on behalf of whom I said, “After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me”’” (John 1:29–30). On the day after he spoke to the delegation, John “saw Jesus coming to him.” In keeping with his role as a herald, John immediately called the crowd’s attention to Him, exclaiming “Behold, the Lamb of God.” The concept of a sacrificial Lamb was a familiar one to...

Beto O’Rourke (D) is struggling to garner support in his home state of Texas, with Joe Biden (D) maintaining his lead in the Lone Star State and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) taking a second-place position, according to a University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll released Wednesday. The poll, which surveyed 550 registered voters likely to vote in the Texas Democrat primary, was taken August 29 – September 8 and showed Democrat voters flocking to O’Rourke’s competitors.

Free speech is often the first casualty of political polarization. There are two competing American tribes that have an immense amount in common. They both loathe mass shootings and grieve for lives lost. They both propose plans to protect innocent life. They both seek to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals. Yes, they have profound differences, but their motivations and intentions are remarkably similar. Moreover, America is designed from the ground up so that citizens of good will can hash out their competing ideas through political and cultural argument. if ( "undefined" !== typeof googletag && !...

Pins reminded me that last year’s 9/11 post was the last time we heard from notmysocks who sadly passed the next day. So for this week’s Throwback Thursday, and in keeping with this week’s spirit of “never forget” I’m reposting the MOTUS Twilight Nocturn Lounge sendoff we held in Sock’s honor nearly a year ago. We miss you, dear friend, along with Bunni, GreetingsFromYonkers, and JanicetheElder – as well as many others who are MIA. The Lounge is now open We’re gathered here this evening  to  provide our old friend, notmysocks, a proper MOTI sendoff to her just reward. So...

Legal challenges to a no-deal Brexit centre on political matters which must be kept outside judicial examination, the High Court in Belfast has ruled. A senior judge has rejected all grounds of challenge to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's strategy for taking the UK out of the EU, including claims that it would threaten the Northern Ireland peace process. Lord Justice Bernard McCloskey delivered his ruling on Thursday morning. Dismissing cases brought by victims campaigner Raymond McCord and two other applicants, Lord Justice McCloskey held that they were non justiciable. According to his determination the actions indisputably focused on political...

It's been 18 years since 9/11. Children born on that tragic day are old enough to serve and fight in America's longest war. In New York City, there are 13 members of next graduating class from the Fire Academy who lost their fathers in the destruction of the World Trade Center, according to the New York Post. For many Americans there is an absence of memory about 9/11 -- but for others it persists because of the memory of absence.

President Trump’s reelection campaign will be flying a banner attacking socialism in Houston on Thursday, shortly before Democratic presidential candidates take the debate stage there. An official with the campaign told ABC News that the group plans to fly a banner that reads, "Socialism will kill Houston's economy,” from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. The third Democratic presidential debate is scheduled to begin an hour later. The campaign also plans to take out two full-page advertisements in local newspapers taking aim at Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), former Vice President Joe Biden and former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián...

Today’s Cryptogram EA Q PEXM DK JUQCPEO OTQAIM EP EC PTM NMQUAMUC GTD EATMUEP PTM KLPLUM. PTM NMQUAMJ LCLQNNV KEAJ PTMXCMNBMC MYLEFFMJ PD NEBM EA Q GDUNJ PTQP AD NDAIMU MHECPC. –MUEO TDKKMU You can find this little fun word game, to combat early dementia and senility in us baby boomers, in several daily publications. The way it works is a letter stands for another letter. For example: AXYDLBAAXR is LONGFELLOW (does not apply to today's cryptogram). Beware, the game is very addictive. If this is your first time, don't be intimidated. PLEASE DO NOT post the answer in general...

President Donald Trump has left the impression with foreign officials, members of his administration, and others involved in Iranian negotiations that he is actively considering a French plan to extend a $15 billion credit line to the Iranians if Tehran comes back into compliance with the Obama-era nuclear deal. Trump has in recent weeks shown openness to entertaining President Emmanuel Macron’s plan, according to four sources with knowledge of Trump’s conversations with the French leader. Two of those sources said that State Department officials, including Secretary Mike Pompeo, are also open to weighing the French proposal, in which the Paris...

Nicolette Larson (July 17, 1952 – December 16, 1997) was perhaps best known for her work in the late 1970s with Neil Young and her 1978 hit single of Young's "Lotta Love", which hit No. 1 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and No. 8 on the pop singles chart. By 1985, she shifted her focus to country music, charting six times on the US country singles chart. She died in 1997 of cerebral edema and liver failure. "Lotta Love" is a song written and recorded by Neil Young and released on his 1978 Comes a Time album....

Today we have Love Thief by Hank Thompson (1951). I'm afraid I'd have to give Thompson the prize for wearing the dorkiest hats, but he sure made good music. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

Hats off to Gov. Tony Evers for calling out Wisconsin legislative Republicans' position on guns for what it is — BS. Evers made his blunt assessment after GOP leaders Robin Vos and Scott Fitzgerald, dutifully followed by their submissive colleagues in the Assembly and Senate, announced they had no intention of even considering Evers' proposals to address what has become a national crisis. In the wake of the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings and calls from the public that government officials do something, Evers proposed that Wisconsin enact a universal background check procedure and pass a red-flag law that...

'Think artillery' when it comes to the 4-bore double rifles of Austrian gunmaker Peter Hofer. - The long, illustrious history of the 4-gauge rifle goes back to the days of the muzzleloaders first employed against the pachyderms of India and Africa. These guns reached perfection with the advent of the breech-loading cartridge guns. The standard load was 14 drams of black powder behind a 1,882-grain slug, which would give an approximate velocity of 1,200 to 1,400 feet per second. The immense unbridled power of a shoulder gun firing the maximum load for a ship's swivel cannon generated 300 pounds of...

If Republicans support a federal “red flag” law and universal background checks they will have done more than President Obama to undermine Second Amendment rights, contends NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch. “Is that what they want their legacy to be?” she asked in an interview Tuesday night with Tucker Carlson on the Fox News Channel. The red flag laws, which already have been adopted in 17 states and the District of Columbia, allow police to seize guns from people who haven’t even been charged with a crime if they are deemed a danger to society.

Weymouth High School parents began raising money this year for their kid’s sports teams by selling “white out” shirts that kids can wear to athletic events to encourage school unity. Anyone remotely familiar with sportball understands what a “white out” is. It’s not just white either, they do it for lots of colors. Usually it’s the school colors, although Weymouth’s colors of maroon and gold could be offensive to Elizabeth Warren. More often than not it’s just black or white because it’s a color that stands out. That’s when this woman stepped in. This is Weymouth Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Curtis-Whipple....

Morning "God is jealous." Nahum 1:2 Your Lord is very jealous of your love, O believer. Did he choose you? He cannot bear that you should choose another. Did he buy you with his own blood? He cannot endure that you should think that you are your own, or that you belong to this world. He loved you with such a love that he would not stop in heaven without you; he would sooner die than you should perish, and he cannot endure that anything should stand between your heart's love and himself. He is very jealous of your trust....

Vanity - my wife had a major stroke on Friday en route to her job as a junior high science teacher. Fortunately, even at a high rate of speed on a twisty 2 lane road, she missed everyone, and his a intersection light pole, injuring no other person, or causing no one else and damage. Her spirit, or soul, departed the instant of the stroke, we were assured by the doctors (as well as the lack of high speed crash injuries in a conscious person). The doctors, or more importantly, the nurses at Memorial Hermann Medical Center 7th floor Neuroscience...

I hate science, evidently, because I’m woke to the manifest truth about what the leftist elite currently calls “climate change." It is the second most staggering fraud ever perpetrated upon the American people after the media’s promotion of the unstoppable candidacy of Beto (who is a furry). Like some suckers still do, I once believed that “science” was a rigorous process where you tested theories and revised those theories in response to objective evidence. But in today’s shabby practice, “science” is just a package of self-serving lies buttressing the transnational liberal elite’s preferred narrative. Our alleged betters hope that labeling...

Speaking to CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday, Santorum said that while Trump is celebrating this week’s Republican victories in North Carolina, there was a more ominous long-term trend appearing in the polls. Trump has low favorability ratings and is trailing most of his potential 2020 Democratic rivals, meaning he has quite a hill to climb if he hopes to win reelection next year. “The president’s numbers are not good numbers,” Santorum said. “The races in 2018 were not good races for the president and he’s gotta be concerned.” Santorum added that in the end, Trump’s own mouth could be what...