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Going cashless has become increasingly common on an international scale, with many vendors eliminating hard currency in favor of card payment or digital apps. Cultural venues, street festivals, outdoor concerts, and eateries worldwide are also embracing electronic payment as the preferred monetary transaction of the future. The Czech Republic has long been considered a trailblazer in this area, however, many smaller restaurants and shops outside of the capital remain strongholds of cash-only payment and, according to research from 2021, some 20 percent of Czechs prefer to make cash-in-hand payments. The right to do so, however, won’t be protected in the...

I remember the first time I saw actress and comedienne Roseanne Barr perform her stand-up routine. It was on the gold standard of late night talk shows, “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson.” Her appearances in 1985, which introduced Barr and her term “domestic goddess,” struck a cord with every day Americans just trying to live their lives and raise a family.The exposure Barr got from Carson’s support went a long way to snagging a sitcom deal for a show she wrote and created, “Roseanne.” The show, which started in 1988 and ran for nine seasons, went on to win...

Former President Donald Trump leads Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in a potential Republican primary matchup by 23 percentage points, or by double the governor’s support, a Harvard Cap/Harris poll released Friday found.Donald Trump earned 46 percent support of the poll’s respondents. DeSantis received 23 percent, exactly half of Trump’s total support.While DeSantis has not jumped into the Republican primary against Trump, many expect he will.The poll showed that if the Republican primary is a two-way race, Trump is favored by 12 points over DeSantis (56-44 percent).

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) is alleging Canadian elections have been targeted for influence by Chinese operatives since at least 2019.The CSIS alerted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other cabinet members to the issue in January. Global News in Canada reports CSIS offered briefings and memos that lay out Beijing’s attempts to influence and “subvert” Canadian elections.Delivered to the prime minister and several cabinet members in a series of briefings and memos first presented in January, the allegations included other detailed examples of Beijing’s efforts to further its influence and, in turn, subvert Canada’s democratic process, sources said.Based on...

Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Liam Neeson thinks the many Star Wars spinoff series are "diluting" the franchise. The 70-year-old actor discussed the possibility of starring in a Star Wars spinoff about his character Qui-Gon Jinn during Thursday's episode of Watch What Happens Live. Neeson played Qui-Gon in Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace (1999) and recently appeared as the character in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi starring Ewan McGregor. On WWHL, Neeson was asked if he is interested in his own spinoff. "No, I'm not. There's so many spinoffs of Star Wars. It's diluting it, to me, and...

6:13 PM EST: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and FEMA make joint announcement of Biden administration's reversal to send disaster relief to Ohio. The White House also reversed itself and pledged to “provide any additional federal assistance the states may need” to address the disaster.

The average person in the U.S. is around $96,400 in debt... but, as Statista's Katharina Buchholz notes, if Americans would be charged by their hometowns and cities for the debt they have taken on in the name of their residents, a fairly big sum would be added to that tally.According to a report by think tank Truth in Accounting, 50 out of the 75 largest cities in the U.S. are currently running a deficit - in some cases a major one.You will find more infographics at StatistaIf New York City would divide the money amiss in its FY2021 budget among...

Microsoft's Bing AI chatbot has gone full HAL, minus the murder (so far).While MSM journalists initially gushed over the artificial intelligence technology (created by OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT), it soon became clear that it's not ready for prime time. For example, the NY Times' Kevin Roose wrote that while he first loved the new AI-powered Bing, he's now changed his mind - and deems it "not ready for human contact."According to Roose, Bing's AI chatbot has a split personality:One persona is what I’d call Search Bing — the version I, and most other journalists, encountered in initial tests. You could...

This ruling demonstrates how enabling and protecting the deliberate creation of motherless and fatherless babies violates children’s natural rights.An Oklahoma judge ruled on Thursday that a baby created for a lesbian couple using purchased sperm belongs with his biological mother and father, not his mom’s female ex. Kris Williams argued that because she helped raise the toddler with her now ex-wife Rebekah Wilson and since she is listed on his birth certificate, she deserves full parental rights. Oklahoma County District Judge Lynne McGuire rejected that claim and said that Oklahoma law detailing parentage trumps the state’s legalization of same-sex marriage....

North Dakota took a major step towards securing its elections on Wednesday after the state’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill banning ranked-choice voting (RCV). The move aligns with the Republican National Committee, which disavowed RCV in its January meeting.In a 74-19 vote, North Dakota’s lower chamber approved HB 1273, which specifies that RCV “may not be used in determining the election or nomination of any candidate to any local, state, or federal elective office.” No North Dakota jurisdiction currently employs ranked-choice voting for elections, according to a local state news outlet.Under RCV, which critics call ” rigged-choice voting,”...

The Idaho House passed a resolution on Wednesday to begin talks with the Oregon Legislature about potentially expanding the Idaho border into eastern Oregon.Such a resolution has its roots in the Greater Idaho movement, which seeks to absorb 11 Oregon counties, or 63 percent of the state’s landmass, into Idaho. The rationale for such a move is that the leftist residents of northwest Oregon — Portland, Salem, Eugene — control the politics of the state, and therefore rural, conservative residents in eastern and southern Oregon are effectively silenced on matters of state governance.“The aspirations of Portland-area and northwestern Oregon voters...

Twitter CEO Elon Musk weighs in on the artificial intelligence service, ChatGPT, which reportedly shows liberal bias. Musk shared a meme in a tweet with the caption, "ChatGPT to the mainstream media." The meme read, "look at me; I'm the captain of propaganda now." Musk, who helped launch ChatGPT, said that the technology no longer resembles what he took part in creating in 2015. Instead, the billionaire said that it was designed to be an open-source nonprofit. "Now it has become a closed source, the maximum-profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft," Must wrote in a tweet. "Not what I intended...

It's not uncommon for bikers to hear all the negative aspects behind riding a motorcycle: "It's too dangerous" or "I don't trust the other people on the road" and by far the most ridiculous stereotype, "Are you going to join a gang?"Motorcycling isn't for everyone, which is fine. Because if everyone in the world rode a motorcycle, then it wouldn't be the symbol of rebellion, freedom, and independence that we recognize. It's for those of us who march to the beat of our own drum, step away from conformity and choose to fulfill our lives on our own terms. So...

I’ve been to more “revivals” than I can count. I grew up in churches where “revivals” were the norm, not the exception.I actually became a Christian during a “revival” at a youth retreat. After a weekend of preaching, “prophecies”, prayers, and “casting out demons”, most of the people at the youth retreat accepted the altar call, repeated the sinner’s prayer, and made professions of faith in Christ.Within weeks, however, the vast majority of the people who professed faith in Christ had returned to unrepentant sin. So I’ve seen firsthand how emphasis on “revivals” instead of repentance harm so many.It’s with...

A document used in the Proud Boy trial was not theirs, it was written by a government stooge. Another chunk of evidence that the government set up and executed toward Americans was not written by the Proud Boys but By the US Government itself. The document best known as “1776 Returns” was not a Proud Boy document. The document was given to a woman by the name of Erika Flores, a love interest of the Proud Boy leader, Enrique Tarrio. This FBI and CIA member or associate asked her to share it with Tarrio! According to the Motion by attorney...

'Christ did not come to explain away and minimize sin by appealing to God's love, but to draw its deadly sting from our mortal being and to enable us to live ‘in true righteousness and holiness’ following Christ.' (LifeSiteNews) – Cardinal Gerhard Müller has condemned the heterodox Synodal Path, calling its proponents a “German Synodal sect.” Müller, a former Prefect of the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), made his remarks in an opinion piece published by kath.net, where he responded to heterodox statements made by Bishop Georg Bätzing during the World Synod meeting in Prague on February...

Update from Ukraine | Ruzzia cut all of the supplies to Wagner | Big Conflict inside Putler's regime https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u02vENscfqw Follow on Instagram up to date uploads. https://www.instagram.com/denys_pilot/ ****SUMMARY Military MAPS & COMMENTS here: NEW- https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-358-summary/

Explanation: While scanning the skies for near-Earth objects Hungarian astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky first imaged the meter-sized space rock now cataloged as 2023 CX1 on 12 February 2023 at 20:18:07 UTC. That was about 7 hours before it impacted planet Earth's atmosphere. Its predicted trajectory created a rare opportunity for meteor observers and a last minute plan resulted in this spectacular image of the fireball, captured from the Netherlands as 2023 CX1 vaporized and broke up over northern France. Remarkably it was Sárneczky's second discovery of an impacting asteroid, while 2023 CX1 is only the seventh asteroid to be detected before...

On the occasion of the release of his autobiographical book retracing the last 50 years of the history of the Church, retired Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard discusses the great challenges of our time.Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard, the archbishop emeritus of Brussels-Mechelen and former primate of Belgium, has just published a book that will undoubtedly not go unnoticed in the Catholic world. L’Eglise dans tous ses états: 50 ans de débats autour de la foi (“The Church in All Its ‘States’: 50 Years of Debates Around the Faith”) is presented as an autobiographical account through which its author delivers an uncompromising analysis of...

Video games have come a long way since the Atari was released in 1977. From super-realistic graphics to complex storylines and deep gameplay, games have already ascended far beyond what most people in the late '70s ever thought was possible... Some of those games are truly timeless, often because their design is simple enough that it'll always be fun or their artistry leaves an impact that can't go out of style. On the other hand, there are some that, while they're still remembered and revered for their influence historically, just don't stand the test of time. Much of what was...