Free Republic

The subject is AI. But the discussion takes place against a backdrop of financial crisis. Or, at least a faux financial crisis – the debt ceiling. You probably know more about Artificial Intelligence than we do. But since it is supposed to change life on planet earth – for the better – we thought we should get acquainted with it. We don’t want to be surprised by a sudden increase in our well-being. It might be unsettling. Here is the executive summary: If you are counting on AI to make you rich…or save the US from decline…you will probably be...

Leading outdoor apparel brand The North Face has partnered with a “drag queen” in advance of LGBTQIA2s+ Pride Month, even selling children’s clothing daubed in gay rainbow colors, as part of its “Out in Nature” collection. “Hi, it’s me, Pattie Gonia, a real-life homosexual,” a mustachioed man says in their new ad, as he announces the Summer of Pride tour for The North Face, a subsidiary of the VF Corporation which also owns brands such as Supreme, Vans, and Timberland. Mr. Gonia opens the ad – in part directed at children – by offering “an invitation to come out…” with...

The Durham report marked the final chapter of a dramatic saga that began nearly seven years ago: the inception of Russiagate, and the launch of media careers of federal officials wrapped up in pushing the dubious collusion narrative. Launched by the FBI in July 2016 as Crossfire Hurricane, the Robert Mueller investigation looked into whether there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin's election interference operations. The media followed every aspect of the probe with glee. The controversy plagued Donald Trump's presidency as The New York Times and The Washington Post published bombshell after bombshell, often based...

Prigozhin: We fought in Bakhmut against superior forces, destroyed about 50,000 Ukrainian Armed Forces and wounded up to 70,000 ▪️ PMC "Wagner" had 3.2 times fewer dead than the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and about 2 times fewer wounded. ▪️ The PMC in Artyomovsk had 50,000 people at its best, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine - 82,000, and the ratio for the assault should be 3 to 1 for the attackers. ▪️During the operation, I chose 50,000 prisoners, 20% of them died, another 20% were injured. ▪️The goal of Artemovsk was not Artemovsk itself, but the Bakhmut Meat Grinder....

In the three months since Jimmy Carter entered hospice, the 98-year-old former president is enjoying visits from family members, fielding updates on his humanitarian foundation and eating peanut butter ice cream at the modest single-story home in Georgia he shares with his wife, his grandson said. Carter’s grandson Jason Carter provided the update on his grandfather after the 39th president entered end-of-life care at his Plains home in February “instead of additional medical intervention” after a series of short hospital stays. “They’re just meeting with family right now, but they’re doing it in the best possible way: the two of...

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin stresses importance of collaboration between intelligence services in visit to US. France's Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said that the primary risk for Europe and France is "Sunni Islamist terrorism” Ashleigh Furlong May 20, 2023 There’s a risk of a “resumption” of the “Islamist terrorist” threat in Europe, France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said during a visit to the U.S. Stressing the importance of anti-terrorism collaboration between intelligence services from both sides of the Atlantic, Darmanin said in an interview with Agence France-Presse that “for Europeans and for France the primary risk is Sunni Islamist terrorism.” While...

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) on Tuesday slammed Target’s chief executive for pulling LGBTQ and Pride Month merchandise off of store shelves after facing backlash and threats of violence from some customers. “CEO of Target Brian Cornell selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists is a real profile in courage. This isn’t just a couple stores in the South. There is a systematic attack on the gay community happening across the country,” Newsom wrote in a tweet Tuesday night. “Wake up America. This doesn’t stop here. You’re black? You’re Asian? You’re Jewish? You’re a woman? You’re next,” the California governor...

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Daniel Werfel denied retaliating against whistleblowers who recently contacted Congress to allege a cover-up in the Hunter Biden tax fraud investigation. “I want to state unequivocally that I have not intervened – and will not intervene – in any way that would impact the status of any whistleblower,” Werfel said in a May 17 letter to the House Ways and Means Committee obtained by Fox News. Werfel contends that the purge of the IRS’s Biden investigatory team on May 15 was allegedly done on the orders of the Justice Department, which aligns with what one of...

(Reuters) - South Carolina lawmakers on Tuesday passed a ban on most abortions after fetal cardiac activity begins, around six weeks. The hotly contested bill, which Republican Governor Henry McMaster is expected to sign, passed mostly along party lines, with the notable exception of the state senate's five women members, who opposed it. The Republican-backed bill, which bans most abortions before many women know they are pregnant, is a revised version of an earlier measure that the state Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional earlier this year. It allows abortions up to 12 weeks in cases of rape and incest, and also...

President Andres Lopez-Obrador of Mexico has finally met someone that he can't fool anymore. For the last years, the man nicknamed AMLO has pretended to be the leader of the Third World, the representative of everyone with a grievance, and the one who makes things happen. (A lot of Mexicans would say that he is making things a lot worse, but that's for another post.) A few months ago, President Lopez-Obrador stepped on it big time. He got involved in Peru's politics, a sin by Mexican standards. After all, hasn't Mexico always preached the idea that your business is your...

As Ron DeSantis prepares to enter the 2024 Republican primary, Nikki Haley released a campaign video that ridicules the Florida governor as a copycat of Donald Trump.Haley’s campaign went after DeSantis on Tuesday after the news broke that he’ll announce his bid for the White House in an upcoming Twitter Spaces event with Elon Musk. The Haley team did so by releasing a three-page memo slamming DeSantis over his “petty political fights,” his “lack of basic people skills,” and declaring that he’s “like Trump, drama and all – but without any of the charm.”Haley has made a point of slamming...

... for 'security services' in 2022, while sister of board member earned $1.1M for 'consulting' * Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, a non-profit that grew out of the protest movement, is haemorrhaging cash, financial records show * The group ran an $8.5 million deficit and saw the value of its investment accounts drop by nearly $10 million, with fundraising down 88% year-on-year * Despite the financial woes, the organization still paid relatives of the founder and of a board member hundreds of thousands of dollars for services Black Lives Matter's national organization is at risk of going bankrupt after...

The pernicious rhetoric of the left that words are “violence” justifying actual violence may have inspired a radical professor at Hunter College (part of the City University of New York) to destroy a pro-life display on school grounds. That provoked an investigation by the University of the incident that was captured on video and displayed on Twitter.Allie Griffin of the New York Post described the incident:A Manhattan college professor flipped out on a group of students who set up an information table opposing abortion inside the school building — cursing and tossing their pamphlets, video of the interaction shows.Shellyne Rodriguez,...

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused Target of participating in a "systematic attack" on LGBTQ communities across the country after the retail chain rolled back the sale of some "Pride" products this week. In a Wednesday tweet, Newsom declared that Target CEO Brian Cornell was "selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists." Target confirmed on Tuesday that it had moved its "Pride Collection" stations further back into the store at some locations, in addition to removing some products designed by a Satanist fashion group. "This isn't just a couple stores in the South," Newsom declared. "There is a systematic attack...

Even though JOSEPH GOEBBELS was the Reich Minister of propaganda (1933-1945), he often spoke openly about the strategy of the Reich propaganda. He said: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the...

Republican commentator and politician Kari Lake mocked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ ongoing feud with Disney during an appearance on Newsmax’s The Balance on Tuesday and questioned how DeSantis could expect to beat former President Donald Trump in the Republican primary when he “can’t beat” Donald Duck.”“Trump is brilliant, he works the media to perfection, but this whole idea of the fight that is going on down here in Florida between Governor DeSantis and Disney, I mean, it represents so much for conservatives,” said host Eric Bolling. “They love what DeSantis is doing, you know, kind of muting Disney a little...

You'd think Target would have learned its lesson.Back in 2006, I wrote an editorial at Investor's Business Daily criticizing its wokester Che Guevara merchandise selection, prompting the company to pull the merchandise nationally.The Reuters photo of what happened is here. If that wasn't enough for them, and the old corporate memory is gone, there are numerous cases of "go woke, go broke" among other corporations that tried to foist woke merchandise on the public, culminating in the Bud Light fiasco, which could have reminded them. Or, they could have checked out what was left on the Target clearance shelves of...

… And so it will come to pass, as many refused to believe.Tomorrow, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will follow a sequence of events to launch the Sea Island billionaire strategy for a 2024 Republican nomination bid. This plan has been constructed for several years; that’s how I was able to predict the organization of the effort ten months ago and the exact date of the launch six months ago.The sequence of the launch also tells a story. The sequence of tomorrow is priority driven. Each group is assisting in the launch sequence based on their importance to the Ron DeSantis...

The rollercoaster debt-ceiling talks are back at a stalemate amid a full-throated effort by the most conservative members of Kevin McCarthy’s caucus to preemptively kill any bipartisan deal. Influential Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) told a right-wing host Tuesday night that “my position is to hold the damn line” and force a GOP-only plan into law, one of the many similar comments from Republicans in recent hours. “I don’t even care about the negotiations going on at the White House,” he added. The GOP's internal dynamics are having a direct effect on the talks. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy abruptly shifted his...

Stanford researchers have discovered that certain brain signals actually flow the wrong way in people with treatment-resistant depression — and that magnets can correct the misdirection and help patients feel better. “This is the first time in psychiatry where this particular change in a biology — the flow of signals between these two brain regions — predicts the change in clinical symptoms,” said Nolan Williams, senior author of a paper detailing the discovery. The challenge: While most people living with depression can find some relief with medications, approximately 84 million people globally have treatment-resistant depression, meaning they still don’t feel...