Free Republic

Operator Yum! Brands says about 45% of sales are digitalYum! Brands, the operator of KFC, Pizza Hit, Taco Bell and The Habit Burger Grill restaurants, is embracing technology with plans for "AI-powered" fast food, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The company has been increasing investment in technology and automation, with about 45%, or $30 billion, of sales being digital – nearly twice what it was in 2019 – Yum's chief digital and technology manager Joe Park told the newspaper. That is roughly double the level of 2019. "Our vision of [quick-service restaurants] is that an AI-first mentality works...

President Biden has signaled to the world that America is weak. With feckless leaders like Vice President Kamala Harris and cabinet Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas joining him, it is no wonder that Biden’s resolve is being tested by our adversaries. Catherine Herridge, a former senior investigative reporter for CBS News, lit up the interwebs in December with an ominous prediction. Herridge stated, “I just feel a lot of concern that 2024 may be the year of a black swan event. This is a national security event with high impact that’s very hard to predict.” She is not alone in her thinking....

2016 meddling was 'primitive' compared to what's aheadWhen it comes to AI possibly influencing elections, 2024 will be "ground zero," according to Hillary Clinton. This will be a huge election year, with more than four billion people on this planet eligible to vote in one poll or another. The output of generative AI in all this politics, at least, is expected to be unavoidable in 2024; deepfake images, falsified audio, and such software-imagined stuff are likely to be used in attempts to sway or put off voters, undermine people's confidence in election processes, and sow division. That's not to...

When Donald Trump chose to be interviewed by Israel Hayom, he did not intend to send Israelis a warning message – but anyone who reads the content of what the most sympathetic president ever to sit in the White House said cannot miss the bright red light. Trump remains loyal to Israel, supports it and justifies the war it has waged, but warns: "You have lost the support you had. Once upon a time, 15 years ago, Israel had the strongest lobby. If you were a politician, you couldn't say anything bad about Israel. That was the end of your...

A popular form of contraception used by millions of women across the world has been linked to an increased risk of a rare brain tumor. Recent research published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) suggests a connection between the use of injectable medroxyprogesterone acetate — a type of progestogen used by roughly 74 million women globally for birth control — and the increased risk of meningioma, a brain tumor that affects the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. While usually benign, meningiomas potentially lead to serious complications due to their location. The study, carried out by French researchers, used...

Hamas document reveals it hides casualties, blames failed rocket launches on Israel - IDF. By Ohad Merlin. Published: March 31, 2024 . An official Hamas document recovered by IDF soldiers proves that many Gazan casualties are the direct result of failed rocket launches by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The IDF spokesperson in Arabic exposed close cooperation between terror groups in concealing information and choosing launch areas far from houses of Hamas leadership, not Gazan citizen...https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-794610___ So, if some 20% to 25% are failed rockets, how many Arab-Palestinians are massacred by their own? To use this previous example: (((noa...

Minister Karhi, who submitted the bill, says, "There will be no freedom of speech for Hamas mouthpieces in Israel. Al Jazeera will be closed in the coming days."

Recent reports have surfaced suggesting that President Biden will be pulling back from engaging with national media, opting instead for interactions with local reporters for the remainder of his campaign. This decision raises eyebrows and invites criticism, particularly given the lack of transparency and accountability it entails. But let’s dissect the facts here. Why the reluctance to face national reporters head-on? Firstly, Biden skipped a golden opportunity by declining an interview during the Super Bowl with CBS, where he would have likely faced relatively easy, softball questions. Furthermore, the glaring absence of solo press conferences from Biden’s agenda this year...

LIVERMORE, Calif. — Most fast food workers in California will be paid at least $20 an hour beginning Monday when a new law is scheduled to kick in giving more financial security to an historically low-paying profession while threatening to raise prices in a state already known for its high cost of living. Democrats in the state Legislature passed the law last year in part as an acknowledgement that many of the more than 500,000 people who work in fast food restaurants are not teenagers earning some spending money, but adults working to support their families. That includes immigrants like...

A mosque in the town of Kajang has issued an apology to its congregants after sounding the evening azan (Islamic call to prayer) four minutes early. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims refrain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk, and break their fast once the azan for mahgrib prayers is sounded. The mistake at Prima Saujana mosque on March 30 meant that some of the residents in the township in the Malaysian state of Selangor broke their fast prematurely. The mosque's administrator, Mohamad Asri Harun, explained in a statement on March 31 which was reported by Malaysian media...

IDF and ISA troops have completed precise operational activity in the area of the Shifa Hospital and exited the area of the hospital. The troops killed terrorists in close-quarters encounters and located numerous weapons and intelligence documents throughout the hospital, all while preventing harm to civilians, patients, and medical teams. In the central Gaza Strip, an IDF helicopter directed by IDF troops struck a booby-trapped Hamas military compound from which terrorists observed IDF troops and an additional Hamas military compound. Over the past day, IAF aircraft killed terrorists who posed an immediate threat to IDF troops, including a sniper who...

President Biden will travel to Baltimore on Friday to visit the site of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, the White House announced Monday. “We are with you Baltimore, and we will be there to get this done,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said when making the announcement. Biden himself had vowed to visit Baltimore, saying on Friday he would visit alongside Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D). Hours after the collapse early Tuesday morning, Biden said he planned to go to the site “as quickly as” he can. Jean-Pierre said Biden is continuing to lead a “whole of government”...

Thousands of jobs have already been eliminated by California’s law to raise the minimum wage to $20 for restaurant workers, which goes into effect April 1. For eight years, Michael Ojeda delivered food for a Pizza Hut in Ontario, California, using the income he received to support his family. In December, the 29-year-old received a letter from the pizza franchise informing him that his employment was being terminated in February. The news shook him. “Pizza Hut was my career for nearly a decade and with little to no notice it was taken away,” Ojeda said, whose story was recently highlighted...

A confidential memo circulated among top Democratic donors has sparked a furious debate in Democratic circles about whether to narrow the focus of voter registration efforts to avoid signing up likely Republicans. For decades, nonpartisan groups allied with the Democratic Party have run wide-ranging efforts aimed at increasing voter registration among people of color and young people — groups that tend to lean Democratic but have historically voted at lower rates than older and White people. In recent years, however, there has been a marked shift among the roughly one in five citizens of voting age who are unregistered toward...

Members of Russian military intelligence unit 29155, who allegedly have access to microwave or ultrasound weapons, had been placed at the scene of reported attacks that resulted in US personnel suffering health problems, according to a year-long investigation by the Latvia-based Insider in collaboration with CBS’s “60 Minutes” and Germany’s Der Spiegel. Christo Grozev, the head of investigations with The Insider, told “60 Minutes” that he uncovered accounting records that show a 29155 officer received a bonus for work related to the development of “non-lethal acoustic weapons.” Unit 29155 has reportedly operated around the world since 2008, and is suspected...

VIDEOSeveral local and state governments are urging residents to host the flood of "asylum seekers" that have been entering America. In many cases such hosting efforts will not end well as you can see in this example of a German family that hosted an "asylum seeker" there. Governments in the West are asking that their citizens become the Eloi for the Morlock "Newcomers."

A plan to turn a former Boston-area veterans’ home into a shelter for hundreds of migrants has been slammed as “disgusting” by local residents, who say Massachusetts’ services should instead go to the nation’s heroes. Democratic Gov. Maura Healey announced last week she would convert the historic Chelsea Soldiers’ Home — which was vacant and scheduled for demolition — into a site for 100 migrant families and pregnant women, the Boston Herald reports. But the proposal comes as veterans continue to face homelessness in the state, with 545 vets experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2023, according to US...

Her next book could be Harry Potter and the prisoner of Trans-kaban. JK Rowling is daring police in her native Scotland to arrest her for misgendering transgender people after a new woke hate crime law took effect Monday. “Freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal,” she wrote on X. “I’m currently out of the country, but if what I’ve written here qualifies as an offense under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the...

The movie came out on January 25, 2024. There had been very little of the usual promotion. Lockshin’s name was omitted from posters. His name was absent from all marketing materials, such as they were. In any event, the movie was a sensation. The public went to see it, quickly making it the top-grossing Russian movie of all time, in the over-18 category.Furious, the state and its propagandists got to work. As Lockshin says, “a whole campaign” was launched against him and the movie. Propagandists called him a “criminal” and a “terrorist,” and demanded that the movie be pulled from...

Type 57 SC Atlantic disappeared back in 1938The upcoming auction of a Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic Recreation by RM Sotheby's in Dubai has sparked immense interest due to its ties to an elusive piece of automotive history. This particular model pays homage to the original Type 57 SC Atlantic, one of the rarest and most iconic cars ever produced. Ettore Bugatti crafted only four of these masterpieces between 1936 and 1938, each embodying the pinnacle of automotive engineering and design at the time. The body of the original Atlantic was the brainchild of Jean Bugatti, Ettore's son, featuring revolutionary 'Art...