Free Republic

An Amazon Echo owner was left shocked after Alexa proposed a dangerous challenge to her ten-year-old daughter. AI-powered virtual assistants like Alexa that power smart devices and speakers such as Echo, Echo Dot, and Amazon Tap, come with a plethora of capabilities. These include enabling the users to play simple verbal games or request "challenges" on demand. A 'shocking' challenge When sitting idle, such as during the holidays, it wouldn't be unusual for an Amazon Echo owner to ask Alexa, "tell me a challenge to do." Typically such an auditory request has the AI prompting the user with a quiz...

A content moderator for TikTok is suing the company, claiming that she suffered psychological trauma after “constant” exposure to violent videos that showed sexual assault, beheadings, suicide, and other graphic content. Candie Frazier’s lawsuit against the social media giant claims that the company did not protect her while she was forced to work shifts as long as 12 hours each day reviewing graphic content, The Washington Post reported. The suit alleges that Frazier and other moderators would review “extreme and graphic violence,” including videos of “genocide in Myanmar, mass shootings, children being raped, and animals being mutilated.” The moderators worked...

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham owes retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Edward Chavez and retired Court of Appeals Chief Judge Roderick Kennedy an explanation — if not an apology. Chavez and Kennedy co-chaired a Redistricting Task Force that worked for 12 weeks “to bring justice, fairness and transparency” to the contentious decennial process. The 25-member task force studied state and federal requirements, the best practices from other states and concerns from specific New Mexico communities before laying a foundation for a fair redistricting process. The group developed 18 consensus recommendations for the subsequent seven-member Citizen Redistricting Committee, chaired by Chavez and...

DoorDash, the food delivery app based out of San Francisco, is requiring all its nondelivery employees, including CEO Tony Xu, to do a “dash” once a month — and some employees are seemingly furious. An engineer with a reported total compensation, or TC, of $400,000 a year griped about the responsibility of having to do a once-a-month delivery. “What the actual f—k?” the engineer wrote on the platform. “I didn’t sign up for this, there was nothing in the offer letter/job description about this.”

Feminized America. (regarding the parts that are) By JAG December 27,2021 Emasculated and Intellectualized too. (large swaths of America are) Males CAN become feminized, emasculated, and intellectualized ~ whole nations of males can become weak and whipped to their knees by Niceness. "Pale Ebenezer thought it wrong to fight, But Roaring Bill (who killed him) thought it right." __Hilaire Belloc Entire nations/civilizations can intellectualize their way into history's ever expanding graveyard of rotting death. Effete intellectualism ~ a life of thought instead of a life of action, puts in mortal danger every nation/civilization that surrenders to it. There is a...

“The PGA of America (“PGA”) and The Trump Organization today announce that they have reached a settlement resolving their ongoing dispute regarding the PGA’s decision to cancel its contract with Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey to host the 2022 PGA Championship,” the press release stated. “While the terms of the settlement will remain confidential, representatives from both the PGA and the Trump Organization expressed satisfaction with the agreement,” the statement said. The PGA also praised the Trump organization: “The Trump Organization’s contribution to the golf community is appreciated. We are thankful the company employs hundreds of dedicated...

This research was posted December 10, but I wanted to check with experts before posting. It's consistent with everything we know so far.Steve Kirsch3 hr ago 252360 SummaryThe vaccines are bad news. Fifteen bodies were examined (all died from 7 days to 6 months after vaccination). The coroner or the public prosecutor didn’t associate the vaccine as the cause of death in any of the cases. However, further examination revealed that the vaccine was implicated in the deaths of 14 of the 15 cases. The most attacked organ was the heart (in all of the people who died), but other...

Wright Electric, an electric aircraft start-up founded in 2016, announced a new project - the Wright Spirit, which joins the previously announced Wright 1 flagship. The Wright Spirit is a 100-passenger electric airliner envisioned for one-hour flights, equipped with four, "megawatt-class" motors. The initial design is based on the BAe 146 platform: "The Wright Spirit aircraft design builds on the BAe 146 platform - a 100 passenger, 4-engine aircraft known for its operation out of noise-sensitive airports." According to the press release, the prototype will begin flight testing with one electric motor (and, as we understand, three conventional engines),...

At 5 p.m. in Denver, the suspect shot two women and injured a man. He then shot and killed a man nearby. Pazen said that the suspect then fired shots at a third location but no one was injured. Officers identified a car associated with the suspect and exchanged gunfire at a fourth location when he disabled the police vehicle and fled to Lakewood, Pazen said. The suspect shot at the Lakewood police, ditched his car and escaped on foot. He entered a Hyatt Hotel and shot at a clerk, who was taken to a hospital. After he left the...

For many Toyota owners, the words “unintended acceleration” bring back unpleasant memories. However, the phenomenon they describe hasn’t been exclusive to the Japanese automaker; the latest company to face this issue is Hyundai, which is recalling some 2,679 Ioniq Electric hatchbacks in the United States. First brought to the attention of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on December 7, 2021, the recall targets certain 2017–2019 Hyundai Ioniq Electric vehicles built on January 21, 2016 through June 24, 2019 by Hyundai Motor Company in Korea for sale in the United States. In these affected vehicles, “unexpected acceleration following gas pedal...

CDC Changes Rules, Shortens Quarantine for Vaxxed and Unvaxxed, Cancels Any Self Quarantine for Boosted Group Even When Positive Test for VirusDecember 27, 2021 | sundance | 435 Comments[Prequel: Hopefully y’all have done your preparatory diligence, and are well situated to assist your family, because everything in the U.S. economic system is now around 30 days from entering the SNAFU phase. This CDC shift is predictably part of it.]Last week the narrative was “the winter of death” is coming. That effort didn’t faze anyone; the White House shifted messaging within days.The latest public guidance from the Centers for Disease Control...

SNIP NPR music critic Ann Powers uncorked a long, unforgiving treatise on how it doesn’t matter that the Beatles were progressive and loved Black music because they were still somehow part of making rock music white and exclusionary: “Rock’s defining narrative still stands alongside others that reflect the historic segregation of Anglo-American social spheres.” The Beatles and the Rolling Stones wouldn’t play segregated venues and paid tribute to Black musicians who inspired them. But Powers wrote, “As they became rock’s norm, they allowed white fans to enjoy what the late great music writer Greg Tate identified as a pasteurized form...

President Biden returned to Delaware for the 31st time since taking office Monday as the surging Omicron variant of COVID-19 dashed his plans for a post-Christmas vacation in Puerto Rico. Biden will stay at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach with first lady Jill Biden and new first puppy Commander. The president spent Christmas at the White House with his extended family and had planned to visit Puerto Rico in a twist on a family tradition of celebrating New Year’s in the US Virgin Islands. Biden often spends the holiday on St. Croix or on Water Island off St. Thomas...

Morgan Wallen, 28, had the best selling album of 2021, beating out top runners Olivia Rodrigo, Drake and Adele His album Dangerous: The Double Album sold more than 3million copies since its release in January A month after its release, the country music star was caught calling someone a 'p***y a** n****,' causing him to be barred from two award shows Despite using the racial slur, his album sales spike afterward, prompting a conversation about racism in country music The star later met with the Black Music Action Coalition and donated money from his music sales He was also temporarily...

A British news anchor accidentally declared Pope Francis in an utterly brutal live news blunder, magnified by the fact that it took place on Christmas Day. Kylie Pentelow, an anchor for the British network ITV, made the flub during her newscast Saturday evening. It happened as Pentelow was informing her audience about the Pope’s Christmas remarks at the Vatican. “The Pope’s festive address focused on his prayers for the pandemic to come to an end,” Pentelow said. “He said vaccines should be made available to those most in need.” Then, Pentelow said, “His death was announced…” The anchor promptly caught...

Adding abiraterone to the standard treatment for locally advanced prostate cancer, where the cancer has a high chance of spreading, could halve the risk of death from the disease. The researchers suggest that hormone therapy using abiraterone with prednisolone, could significantly reduce prostate cancer deaths and improve outcomes for thousands of people every year. Using abiraterone for this group of people is now being considered for use in NHS England based on this research. If successful, it could be rolled out to patients immediately. The study, published today in The Lancet, is part of the STAMPEDE trial and was led...

The CDC's latest count of deaths attributed to COVID-19 vaccines is nearly 20,000, but a study by researchers at Columbia University estimates the actual number is 20 times higher. The Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, or VAERS, reports 19,886 deaths, 102,857 hospitalizations and a total of 946,461 adverse events due to COVID-19 vaccines through Dec. 3. If the Columbia study's underreporting factor is correct, it would mean that there are nearly 400,000 deaths due to COVID-19 vaccines. COVID vaccination and age-stratified all-cause mortality risk ... suggests the risks of COVID vaccines and boosters outweigh the benefits in children, young adults...

he Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday said it is actively investigating or observing 86 cruise ships following COVID-19 outbreaks on board. Why it matters: The Omicron variant has driven up infections across the U.S., upending vacation plans and disrupting travel. The new strain is the latest sign of the pandemic's hold on the cruise line industry.

A report coming out of Southern California notes that nurses are beginning to speak out about COVID vaccine concerns and observations. The Conejo Guardian reports: Ventura County nurses from differ­ent sectors and specialties are coming forward to blow the whistle on what they deem serious lapses in local health care practices, mostly related to COVID-re­lated protocols, “vaccine” mandates and politically and financially motivated bul­lying of medical staff, which these health care workers say is seriously compromis­ing the general quality of local care. The Guardian spoke with multiple nurses of various ages and at different stages in their careers, all of...

President Joe Biden is thinking of naming Sarah Bloom Raskin as vice chair of the Federal Reserve in charge of banking supervision. That news comes from The Wall Street Journal, which cited knowledgeable sources. Raskin, currently a professor at Duke University law school, was previously deputy Treasury Secretary in the Obama administration and before that was a Fed governor. For two other open Fed seats, Biden is looking at Lisa Cook, a professor of economics at Michigan State University; and Philip Jefferson, an economist at Davidson College, the WSJ reports. Cook and Jefferson would both bring diversity to the Fed,...