Free Republic

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen told Congress on Tuesday that one option for making social media less harmful would be to create a dedicated regulatory agency to oversee companies like Facebook, and could have former tech workers on staff....Haugen also said that if she were made CEO of Facebook, she would immediately establish a policy that would allow it to share internal research with Congress and other oversight bodies, calling for transparency and public scrutiny of Facebook’s systems, algorithms and research into the impacts of its sites.

WASHINGTON, Saturday, Oct. 5. It is the old story across the river to-day. There has been no skirmishing, nor picket firing on the advanced lines. This morning it was discovered that the rebels had an encampment of one or two regiments some seven miles north of Munson's Hill. Their pickets from this camp extend nearly to Falls Church, but evidence continues to be received that the main portion of the army is at Manassas. A rebel flag could be seen to-day with a glass from Munson's Hill. The Navy Department has official advices confirmatory of the small victory of the...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qgVUcRJ4Io

On Oct. 4, 56 mainland Chinese combat aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait and illegally penetrated sovereign Taiwanese airspace. That aerial "show of force" rated as the largest mainland Chinese airspace violation since 1949 when Chinese Nationalist soldiers retreated to the island and dug in. According to numerous media reports, the 56-plane demonstration by the Chinese Communist Party's Peoples Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) culminated three days of sustained military saber-rattling harassment. There have been other sustained military displays, including combat engagements, such as the air and artillery battles in the late 1950s. The Eisenhower administration's support for Taiwan led to...

Forget ghosts and zombies, apparently the new way to cause a fright for Halloween 2021 is to dress up as a nondescript suburban white woman.

If we didn’t have conflict, pressure or trials, we would become passive and lukewarm. Decay would set in, and our temple would lie in ruins. That’s why the enemy’s plan against us is clear: He wants to take us out of the battle. We find all our resources for strength to go on and power over the enemy in our spiritual battles. On that day when we stand before the Lord, he will reveal to us, “Do you remember what you went through in that awful battle? Look at what you accomplished through it all. It was all secured through...

Three glistening new buildings in downtown Seattle with 165 studio apartments — originally to be rented at market rates — will instead house the homeless.The Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) is buying the buildings with taxpayer dollars for about $50 million, with federal COVID-19 relief funds splitting the cost equally. Seattle City Hall is contributing about $25 million, while also using “American Rescue Plan Act” funds. A large portion comes from Washington State’s Department of Commerce.Left-wing Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, so unpopular she can’t run for re-election, claims the deals will house people quickly and cheaply, compared to the time...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some politicians think they’ve found a silver bullet for the impasse over the debt limit, except the bullet is made of platinum: Mint a $1 trillion coin, token of all tokens, and use it to flood the treasury with cash and drive Republicans crazy. Even its serious proponents — who are not that many — call it a gimmick. They say it is an oddball way out of an oddball accounting problem that will have severe consequences to average people’s pocketbooks and the economy if it is not worked out in coming days.

section class="post-body"> If you are having a difficult time recognizing American Democrats in 2021, you are most definitely not alone. Those of us who have been involved in politics for a long time remember a Democratic party that bears almost zero resemblance to whatever the heck is going on over there now. Yeah, they’ve always been a little nutty, but it used to be a manageable nutty.What we are witnessing now from the Democrats is a very public and ongoing nervous breakdown brought on by too many years of lying to the American people and themselves. Public incivility towards anyone...

The Appalling Moral Failure of Francis CollinsJohn G. WestOctober 5, 2021, 11:43 AMFrancis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has just announced his intention to step down at the end of 2021 after more than 12 years heading the agency. The accolades are already rolling in. Noted evangelical political commentator David French, for example, rushed to praise Collins as “a national treasure.”But Collins’s real legacy is anything but praiseworthy, and the tendency of figures in the faith community to ignore his real record is far from admirable. This year of all years should have made the truth...

USN and USAF Veteran. I found an old paystub dated March, 1980 which was right before he retired as an E9 with 26 years of service. Base pay was $1,629.60 a month. That works out to about $20,000/yr or roughly 10 bucks an hour. We can't hire stockers where I work for that rate now. Korean War Veteran, two Vietnam tours and never heard him comment about what he saw there. Great man, loved his country and will be missed. Also reposting some photos from what I believe was around 1966 ~ 1967 when he was at Phan Rang Air...

In perhaps one of the only unscripted moments during Tuesday’s news conference announcing massive new investments in education, Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged visiting Fresno, at least in part, to send a message. “I want folks here in the Valley, no matter where you were in the recall, you could have been 80% pro recall, just (to know) you matter. And we got to do more to demonstrate that,” Newsom told reporters Tuesday while speaking at Fresno’s Sunset Elementary School. “And so, I’m going to be back here until they kick me out, many, many times to make that point.” With...

A boxing sketch in felt pen by the late Muhammad Ali sold for more than $425,000 at an auction in New York on Tuesday of his little-known art works, some of which went for many times over estimates. The sketch, called "Sting Like a Bee," and drawn on paper in 1978 was the most sought-after work among more than 20 paintings, drawings and sketches ----SNIP--- Bonhams auctioneers said that 26 art works by Ali sold for a total of $945,524, more than three times the lower end of estimates.

Composite image of Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter. Credit: Jupiter from Juno: NASA/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt/Seán Doran; Saturn from Cassini: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute; Uranus and Neptune from HST: NASA/ESA/A. Simon (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), and M.H. Wong and A. Hsu (University of California, Berkeley). ========================================================================================== Mushballs – giant, slushy hailstones made from a mixture of ammonia and water – may be responsible for an atmospheric anomaly at Neptune and Uranus that has been puzzling scientists. A study presented by Tristan Guillot at the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) 2021 shows that mushballs could be highly effective at carrying ammonia deep into the...

Americans are rightly concerned about deficit spending in the United States, especially as directed by the perpetually reckless Congress that is constitutionally mandated to care for the purse strings of the nation. At present, the President, the House, and the Senate are locked in a strange budget battle that aims to spend trillions of dollars in the years ahead. These proposals are in addition to a standardized set of costs that are around four to five trillion dollars. The increase in spending is primarily rooted in promises made by President Biden in his campaign and amplified by a growing radical...

“If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). God is light, and His children share His nature. First John 1:5 aptly describes God’s nature as “light” (truth and holiness). Because they partake of His nature (2 Peter 1:4), His children also walk in the light. It must be understood that we don’t become God’s children by walking in the light, but rather we walk in the light because we are His children. The Greek...

“If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). God is light, and His children share His nature. First John 1:5 aptly describes God’s nature as “light” (truth and holiness). Because they partake of His nature (2 Peter 1:4), His children also walk in the light. It must be understood that we don’t become God’s children by walking in the light, but rather we walk in the light because we are His children. The Greek...

Coronavirus deaths in Russia hit a record for the third time this month on Tuesday, and daily new infections once again exceeded 25,000 — a surge that comes as vaccination rates in the country remain stagnantly low and the government shuns imposing tough restrictions to stem the spread. Russia's state coronavirus task force reported 25,110 new confirmed cases on Tuesday and 895 new deaths — the country's highest daily death toll in the pandemic. The previous record, of 890 deaths, was registered on Sunday, and the one before that, of 887 deaths, occurred on Friday. The Kremlin has said that...

Former President Donald Trump heads to Iowa this Saturday for the first time since the 2020 presidential election with an all-time high in favorability ratings in the first-in-the-nation caucus state as he openly flirts with a White House bid, according to the latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Swedish health authorities on Wednesday suspended the use of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for those ages 30 and under, saying the move was done out of precaution. The reason for the pausing is “signals of an increased risk of side effects such as inflammation of the heart muscle or the pericardium” — the double-walled sac containing the heart and the roots of the main vessels, Sweden’s Public Health Agency said in a statement. “The risk of being affected is very small.” In July, the European Medicines Agency recommended authorizing Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 12 to...