Free Republic

A one-of-a-kind Sam’s Club store opened Thursday in South Tampa after the company abruptly closed the location last year, turning a portion of the building into an online fulfillment center.

More than a dozen cars were broken into, and a 2019 silver Kia Sorento with Virginia license plates was stolen from the nearby Cobbles Elementary School parking lot, where churchgoers parked for the Christmas Eve Mass. Parishioners expressed their disbelief. “I mean, this is typically a safe area from what we understand,” said parishioner Mark Elsaesser. “We’ve been coming here a long time. Never seen anything like this happen, especially on the holidays, Christmas time. My wife and I got married here. We’ve had our daughter baptized here, so we’ve been coming here a very long time, and nothing like...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed top officials on Thursday to urgently discuss the immediate discontinuation of the 200-shekel banknote, the highest denomination of Israeli currency. The meeting, set to include Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Bank of Israel Governor Prof. Amir Yaron, Prime Minister’s Office Director-General Yossi Shelley and leaders from the Tax Authority and the Task Force for Combating Crime in the Arab Community, aims to address the elimination of the 200-shekel note as a measure to curb illicit cash flows. snip The plan includes several additional measures: Expanding reporting obligations for citizens with income to the tax authorities. Launching...

Target will no longer be accepting personal checks as a form of payment at its stores beginning later this month, the company confirmed.The Minnesota-based big-box retail chain will stop taking checks this month due to “extremely low volumes,” of such payments, a spokesperson told NBC Chicago.The company has taken “several measures” to notify customers in advance, the spokesperson added.The change will go into effect on July 15 following the end of Target’s popular Circle Week sales event.While personal checks will no longer be accepted, the store will still take cash, credit and debit cards, Target Circle Cards, digital wallets, SNAP/EBT...

On today’s Watchman Newscast, host Erick Stakelbeck is joined by the Kwak brothers to break down why the year 2030 is so pivotal for the Great Reset agenda—and how the push for global government and a digital currency is growing at an alarming rate. Does this sinister movement have prophetic implications? Watch now!

Bit of an older video which I'm going to use as a lead-in to a video from a woman shopping in China (6-month old video). In her video (which follows) she must have a phone app tied to a Chinese bank account and MUST have FACIAL RECOGNITION to authorize the spending from that account. Rich or Poor Free or Bond (slave, essentially) Great or Small (Famous or not famous) THIS is how various governments around the world will control their citizens. You don't have to believe it; but you can watch it continue to unfold.

Amazon is phasing out its checkout-less grocery stores with “Just Walk Out” technology, first reported by The Information Tuesday. The company’s senior vice president of grocery stores says they’re moving away from Just Walk Out, which relied on cameras and sensors to track what people were leaving the store with. Just over half of Amazon Fresh stores are equipped with Just Walk Out. The technology allows customers to skip checkout altogether by scanning a QR code when they enter the store. Though it seemed completely automated, Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling...

[…]Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), tie the financial freedom of citizens to the government and the banking establishment. The central bank issues its centralized digital currencies, and essentially creates a new monetary system, "fiat on steroids", a system that takes everything that is bad in the fiat system, and adds more of it; surveillance, control, censorship, and enforcement capabilities. A modern prison? Indeed, the CBDC is the ultimate prototype of a prison without physical chains. By connecting CBDCs to digital identity cards, and to government systems such as universal basic income, social credits and more, we get the ultimate control...

Australians made $746 million in digital payments in 2018—that number soared to $93 billion in 2022.. A new all-in-one mobile app will offer what its developers claim is Australia’s first end-to-end digital banking platform for the country’s 2.4 million businesses with fewer than 10 employees. The announcement comes a day after Bankwest announced that it is closing 45 of its branches and transitioning the remaining 15 to Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) branches, going digital-only by October 2024. Bankwest is a subsidiary of the Commonwealth Bank, which trades on the Australian Stock Exchange. ... The new app, called Business+, was...

The words leaped off the page. As I read Habakkuk 1:2-4, I thought about the United States. The prophet’s complaint about the violence, iniquity, and injustice in ancient Judah matched everything that I saw all around me. How much longer could it be before God’s judgment falls on America? That was over twenty-five years ago. What grabbed my attention back then is tame compared to now. Wickedness, lawlessness, violence, and injustice have increased exponentially in America since then. Abortion and child trafficking hang over our nation like a thick black cloud of hazardous, deadly chemicals. Corruption defines the U.S. government....

Isn’t it interesting how Sweden’s doing a bit of a U-turn? I mean, who would’ve thought the right-wing government there would be all for keeping physical cash alive and kicking? So, get this – they’re not just talking about it; they’re considering making shops accept cash, going against the whole global trend of going cashless. It’s like they’re saying, “Hold on, we still want the option to use good old-fashioned bills and coins, thank you very much.”

America in the twenty-first century has been on an accelerating descent not unlike what befell ancient Rome. For some four centuries Rome’s Senate and constitution provided continuity which sustained the Roman Republic through various challenges. But in the end, what befell Rome from barbarian invasion, political corruption, and mobs that were manipulated and used by its Caesars, was a rampage against reason and freedom, leading to the Republic’s demise and transition to a centralized imperial authority under emperors. America's style and state of political decline and cultural degeneration differ in many ways from that of ancient Rome, but the big...

Amazon One: an easier way through your day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH_SVNVIfzk Amazon Rolls Out Palm-Scanning Contactless Payments https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WaOq3wQlxI Amazon One, the new contactless way to pay with your palm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL48Gq2l_NY Amazon launches palm scan payment technology | NewsNation Now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBsm7EcS6Gs Amazon rolls out palm scanning payment at Whole Foods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf7por-57yI Whole Foods shoppers will soon be able to pay with the palm of their hand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-KZTrXLlCY You'll soon be able to pay with your handprint at U.S. Whole foods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVwlkHHxzEM Palm-payment technology coming to all U.S. Whole Foods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbZW_oCUlsg

When I talk about the war on cash and a cashless society, some people think I’m exaggerating the threat or they don’t take it seriously. But I’m not exaggerating the threat. It’s here, it’s growing and it’ll only get worse. Today I’ll show you the latest example. The proponents of the cashless society cite convenience as a major benefit. Why bother having to tote a bunch of cumbersome cash and coins around when you can just swipe a card or pay with your smartphone? Besides, they say, cash enables criminal activity on the black market. Cash is the money of...

The UK proposes closing up to 1,000 railway ticket offices leaving passengers to buy their tickets online and then show a digital pass on either a smartphone or tablet. In other words, cash and physical tickets are being replaced with a digital pass. At sporting events such as the Rugby World Cup, fans can only buy tickets online and then present them to a turnstile to gain entry to the grounds. In other words, cash and physical tickets have been replaced with a digital pass. Finnish citizens can now verify their identity at the UK border by showing a digital...

An Illinois man accused of leaving his dead wife’s body on the side of the road has been released thanks to the state’s new cashless bail system. Alona Muryn, 29, was found dead at the side of the road after Inverness police received a call around 1:30 a.m. Monday. Police believe Muryn got into an argument with her husband, who was driving. “The woman removed her seatbelt, opened her car door, and fell from the vehicle,” per CWB Chicago. “Police said she was struck by the car after falling out.”

It would appear Australia is one step closer to embracing a cashless society after Macquarie Bank announced plans to scrap cash transactions across all of its branches. The fifth-largest bank in Australia revealed they will be dropping cash, cheque, and phone payment services from 2024 with payments to be conducted entirely digitally and all cash withdrawals to take place entirely at ATMs from November 2024. “Between January 2024 and November 2024, we’ll be phasing out our cash and cheque services across all Macquarie banking and wealth management products, including pension and super accounts,” Macquarie Bank said in a statement. “Customers...

Bank of Russia Chief says cash will not disappear from circulation Elvira Nabiullina noted that the Bank of Russia was still developing cash and creating a new series of banknotes with a fresh design MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. Cash will not disappear from circulation and the demand for it does not go away, Governor of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina said at a press conference following a meeting of the regulator's board of directors. "Our fundamental position is that people should be able to choose how to make payments. We are presenting choices. We are still developing cash, and...

“Ohio-based coin shop owner took to social media this week to inform the world that his regional bank, where he has been a customer in good standing for many years, shut down all six of his business and personal bank accounts…”

Joe Rogan is a comedian, podcast host, and UFC commentator. His podcast, which I do not endorse with the rank language he often uses, has over 15 million subscribers. He’s a major influencer in our culture today and an unbeliever. A couple of weeks ago, he had a guest named Duncan Trussell, who is a stand-up comic, writer, and actor. Surprisingly, they discussed for quite some time how a cashless society is a precursor to enforcing the mark of the beast. During his program, Joe Rogan asks, “How long before we’re a cashless society?” Trussell responded: “Hopefully, forever. It is...