Free Republic

Driving home from O'Hare airport yesterday on 294 South. Saw an FBI billboard similar to the picture shown. Sure got off their rear ends fast to mobilize this "effort". Never saw a billboard to help find "peaceful protestors" in Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, Chicago, New York......

“The ideal set up by the Party was something huge, terrible, and glittering... all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting - three hundred million people all with the same face.” That was a quote from George Orwell’s seminal work 1984 - a masterpiece that describes life in a totalitarian state that demands blind obedience. The ‘Party’ controlled everything - the economy, daily life, and even the truth. In Orwell’s 1984, “the heresy of heresies was common sense.” “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been...

When O'Brien, the interrogator from the Thought Police in Orwell's 1984, holds up four fingers and asks Winston Smith, an imprisoned member of the underground opposition, how many he sees, poor Winston persists in saying he sees four. But that is not what O'Brien wants to hear. "No, Winston, you are insane. There are five fingers." The interrogations continue until Winston, wracked with pain and exhaustion and persuaded of his insanity, agrees finally through his tears that he was lying to himself, that he had always been lying to himself, and admitted that he saw five fingers. He understood that...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been accused of proposing a 'Ministry of Truth' following her suggestion that a government commission needs to 'reign in' the press in order to stop 'misinformation.' The New York Democrat made the remarks in an Instagram livestream on Tuesday, saying her colleagues in Congress were discussing 'how we rein in our media environment so that you can't just spew disinformation and misinformation.' The comment drew furious backlash from free speech advocates and conservative critics, who accused the self-avowed Democratic Socialist of hatching a dystopian plan to establish government control over news outlets and journalists. 'Let's unpack...

Post-COVID world an “absolute” surveillance state.. As part of the post-COVID “new normal” in China, which has been heralded by many in the west for its lockdown policies, some citizens now have to scan a government tracking app before being allowed to re-enter their own homes. That’s according to a LockdownSceptics.org reader who has lived in China on and off since 2002 and owns a home and company there. According to the reader, life isn’t back to what it was before the pandemic and has in fact changed drastically. “Prior to the crisis, the population could move around freely without...

AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to the unlawful purchase or possession of a body vest.

Leaders in the House of Representatives announced on Friday a rules package for the 117th Congress that includes a proposal to use (“gender-inclusive language”) and eliminate gendered terms such as “‘father, mother, son, daughter,” and more.Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rules Committee Chairman James McGovern (D-Mass.) ( announced) on Friday that the rules package includes changes that would “honor all gender identities by changing pronouns and familial relationships in the House rules to be gender neutral.”

Now that coronavirus vaccines are starting to roll out in the US and abroad, many people may be dreaming of the day when they can travel, shop and go to the movies again. But in order to do those activities, you may eventually need something in addition to the vaccine: a vaccine passport application. Several companies and technology groups have begun developing smartphone apps or systems for individuals to upload details of their Covid-19 tests and vaccinations, creating digital credentials that could be shown in order to enter concert venues, stadiums, movie theaters, offices, or even countries. The Common Trust...

The University of Michigan has been blasted as 'moronic' for launching a task force which has branded the words 'picnic,' 'brown bag' and 'blacklist' as offensive terms which could harm morale. The 'Words Matter Task Force' - set up by the school's Information and Technology Services department - listed more than two dozen words and phrases that could be perceived as offensive to some people, and provided an alternative term that could be used instead. 'To effectively communicate with customers, it is important for ITS to evaluate the terms and language conventions that may hinder effective communication, harm morale, and...

Work is being carried out to develop coronavirus freedom 'passports' that will allow those who have tested negative to enter pubs, schools and workplaces. Two firms have been awarded Government contracts for exploratory work on a new app that would allow people to prove they do not have Covid. The Department of Health said no decisions had been made on introducing the passport. The contracts envisage a system under which people are assigned a QR code on their smartphones linking to a digital passport that includes a photo of them. After a Covid test, this would be updated at the...

How Google's Jigsaw is fighting the darkest parts of the internet BY KERRY FLYNN JUL 20, 2017 Fake news, terrorist propaganda, hateful comments — the internet is not the nicest place in the world. Jigsaw is trying to change that. Formerly under Google, Jigsaw now is a subsidiary within Alphabet. The company, under the direction of Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt and Google Ideas founder Jared Cohen who serves as founder and CEO of Jigsaw, focuses on researching some of the darkest corners of the internet and implementing ways to address them. Yasmin Green, director of research and development at Jigsaw,...

Dictionary.com caught some some flack on Twitter Tuesday, after some users noticed it had changed the definition of the term “court packing.” One Twitter user went to the “Wayback Machine” on the Internet Archive and compared the old and new definitions for the term which has become debated in political circles following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg in September. […] In the old case of “court packing,” Roosevelt’s example appeared as the sole definition. But now, the definition reads, “Court packing can tip the balance of the Supreme Court toward the right or left.” …

Facebook is embarking on a major overhaul of its algorithms that detect hate speech, according to internal documents, reversing years of so-called “race-blind” practices. Those practices resulted in the company being more vigilant about removing slurs lobbed against White users while flagging and deleting innocuous posts by people of color on the platform. The overhaul, which is known as the WoW Project and is in its early stages, involves re-engineering Facebook’s automated moderation systems to get better at detecting and automatically deleting hateful language that is considered “the worst of the worst,” according to internal documents describing the project obtained...

British Columbia is making it mandatory to wear masks in public spaces while social interactions will be under new restrictions until Dec. 7 because of a surge in COVID-19 cases. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry earlier imposed restrictions on social gatherings in areas covered by the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health authorities, but says COVID-19 is spreading to other places and the order will now be provincewide. Henry says the previous measures have failed to decrease the number of cases and the health-care system is under strain.

South Australia will come out of hard lockdown on Saturday night — three days early — and outdoor exercise with family or housemates will be allowed "effective immediately". It comes as the state records three new coronavirus cases, all of which were already in quarantine and were close contacts of staff at a medi-hotel and the Brompton aged care home. Premier Steven Marshall thanked South Australians for "their spirit" during the state's tough lockdown, which only allowed people to leave their homes once a day to obtain essential goods. But he said authorities decided to end the lockdown after discovering...

Hi Andrea, You cannot leave the house to walk the dog or to exercise.

CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) — A northwestern Indiana city wants to install a facial recognition video network camera system downtown in hopes of slowing the spread of the coronavirus. The step comes as state health officials on Friday added 13 more COVID-19 deaths to the state’s pandemic toll.

Future Forward USA Action wants you to know that who you vote for may be a secret, but whether or not you voted is public information, so your friends, family and community will know if you voted in this election. You're encouraged to vote on or by November 3.

You'll own nothing, and you'll be happy. This is how our world could change by 2030.

As Singapore prepares to enter Phase 3 of its reopening in the coming months, changes are to be expected. By the end of the year, check-ins via TraceTogether will be compulsory at public venues to enhance contact tracing efforts, as more social gatherings are allowed. Group sizes may also increase from five to eight in the future, the multi-ministry task force said on Tuesday (Oct 20). What's the difference between TraceTogether vs SafeEntry? TraceTogether — both token and mobile app — help identify people in close contact with those who test positive for Covid-19 with the use of proximity data...