Free Republic

While in college back in the mid-1970s, I wrote a short story on AI. I give a little background on the early mini-computers I operated with a photo of the Honeywell H200 I took. I don't have the original short story anymore but I wrote a pretty good summary highligting the major theme. Essentially, a computer operator was given the opportunity to train a computer as it discovers the world and asks questions.

Just a reminder that AI isn't up to planet crushing intelligence yet. I asked perplexity.ai, "Who is the woman in the attached photo?" The AI responded:The woman in the photo is Marilyn Monroe. This iconic image is from the famous scene where she sings "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" in the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The style of her dress, hair, and the classic vintage microphone are all signature elements from that performance. After I pointed out why that couldn't be the case, it suggested maybe Lauren Becall. Without a clear identifying feature, it is not possible to definitively...

President Donald Trump’s deputies are using federal databases for “continuous vetting” of roughly 55 million foreigners who have visas to visit or live in the United States. “We review all available information as part of our vetting, including law enforcement or immigration records or any other information that comes to light after visa issuance, indicating a potential ineligibility under the INA [ Immigration and Nationality Act],” said a statement from the Department of State. The statement did not say how many visa holders might be vetted each year. But it does suggest that Trump’s integration of federal tax, healthcare, criminal,...

Meet Izzy Gardon — the press flack behind the “@GovPressOffice” account that has begun imitating and mocking President Donald Trump, with the state still needing $40 billion in federal aid for fire victims. Gardon, who lists his term as “student body president” in high school on his LinkedIn profile (along with numerous social media jobs in politics), confirms on X that he is responsible for “bad work related tweets” associated with @GovPressOffice. His official title is Director of Communications for Governor Gavin Newsom — meaning that he is responsible for the @GovPressOffice account, which is the official, state-owned account for...

If you didn't know, Gavin Newsom and his social media team have been mocking Donald Trump online. For example: Well, MSNBC's Morning Joe is not having it. 🚨 HOLY CRAP! Gavin Newsom has just lost left-wing Morning Joe, who is calling his impersonation of Donald Trump an "embarrassment.""It's quite embarrassing, actually. Gavin Newsom, you see what he's doing online? [...] Don't try to turn the ship 180 degrees. They don't know… pic.twitter.com/wT0z57gkm7— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 20, 2025Yes, even Joe Scarborough seems to think it is a waste of time to flatter mock a guy who will never be on...

For years now, corporate elites and their buddies in The Swamp have locked Americans out of good jobs by rigging the hiring system so cheap foreign labor can help line their pockets. They’ve built an underground pipeline that pretends to “recruit” US workers while actually funneling the positions to cheap H1-B workers. The whole scheme runs on secrecy, red tape, and the government’s flat-out refusal to enforce the law. But now, The jig is up. Americans have had enough, and they’re fighting back. Thousands of American workers are now flooding these rigged job postings and exposing the bald-faced lie that...

For about the 20th year, one of Free Republic's members is pleased to create a Yahoo! Pick'em Fantasy Football league. The league rules are simple: ** Pick the winners of each game ** Assign a confidence value to each game ** Post messages to each other on the message board that include bad puns ** Donate generously to Free Republic at the end of the season in the name of the top point earner That's about it. It is a wonderful time waster that really doesn't take much time. I tend to pick all the games in preseason for all...

Doreen St. Félix, a staff writer at the far-left New Yorker, deleted her X account this week after a countless number of racist tweets were uncovered. [snip] Here’s a short list of her greatest hits: April 7, 2015: “tbh whiteness fills me with a lot of hate. can’t really be a prude about it anymore. i’m often angry and hateful about it.” December 24, 2014: “I hate white men. You all are the worst. Go nurse your f------- Oedipal complexes and leave the earth to the browns and the women.” June 4, 2015: “white people, who literally started a plague...

During a recent episode of The Benny Show, host Benny Johnson and guest Mike Benz discussed allegations that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former CIA Director John Brennan engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the American public and intelligence community. Johnson opened the discussion by referencing a recent post from Benz. “You have a post up saying Hillary Clinton is absolutely guilty of a criminal conspiracy to defraud the American taxpayers and intel community and so on. How would that prosecution go? Is that like too much of a pipe dream to even dream to like even...

DNI Clapper to NSA Director Rogers: “That’s OUR story, and we’re stickin’ to it” Stunning admission that manufacturing intelligence is a “team sport” requiring “compromise on our ‘normal modalities’” WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard declassified a Top Secret email from then-DNI James Clapper exposing his efforts to suppress concerns raised by then-National Security Agency (NSA) Director Mike Rogers regarding the politicized January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) that President Obama ordered. On December 22, 2016, Rogers wrote an email to Clapper, then-FBI Director James Comey, and then CIA Director John Brennan expressing serious concerns...

FBI Director Kash Patel has uncovered a bombshell memo written in 2017 chronicling the extensive political obstruction that career agents in three cities faced from their own bosses and the Obama Justice Department during the 2016 election as they probed whether Hillary Clinton engaged in a pay-to-play corruption scheme involving her family foundation. "Shut it down!" then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates is quoted as demanding in the detailed timeline of political impediments that agents in New York City, Little Rock, Ark., and Washington D.C. reported. The agents tried to get the help of federal prosecutors to determine whether or what...

My startling chat with Grok Grok tries to serve Elon Musk, the aggressive censors at X, and me X deleted several of my posts with no explanation. Instead of complaining to X, I contacted Grok and asked why my posts were being vaporized. We communicated for 45 minutes, which resulted in more than 25 pages of single-space copy! People wonder what AI is all about. I can report that Grok does everything super-fast. He (she if you prefer) does not make grammatical or spelling mistakes. Like me, he loves alliteration. Whatever you say, he weaves that into his conversation so...

Florida police arrested a 13-year-old on Friday who is charged with possessing child pornography and beastiality material after he joined an “online cult” that allegedly targets minors for abuse, according to a local sheriff. The unnamed suspect was charged with four felonies weeks after police received a tip about a group on Discord, a popular gaming platform, encouraging a young girl to harm herself during a “live cut show,” Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said in a Monday press conference. The suspect’s group adheres to “Satanic and neo-Nazi ideology” that has been linked to similar cases in the U.S., and...

Republicans in the House Oversight Committee are pushing forward with their investigation into the Jeffrey Epstein case, issuing subpoenas this week to compel testimony from former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., sent letters requiring Hillary Clinton to appear on October 9 and Bill Clinton on October 14. The subpoenas extend beyond the Clintons to include a roster of former high-level officials from across administrations. Former FBI Directors James Comey and Robert Mueller have been called, along with former Attorneys General Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, William Barr, Jeff Sessions, Alberto Gonzales, and...

If you have any doubt that the European Union is devolving into a soft totalitarian state, think again. I have been sounding the alarm bells about the developments in Europe for as long as I have been writing at Hot Air, and some of you may have thought me an alarmist engaged in hyperbole. I am alarmed, of course, but by real threats to freedom. The latest assault on freedom--not just in Europe, because the EU and Great Britain are using their criminal and regulatory powers to suppress speech in the US as well as other countries--comes with the breaking...

Fox News, owned by the anti-Trump Murdoch family, spotlighted an article on Thursday by Ned Price. It was intended to debunk the bombshell reports being dropped by DNI Tulsi Gabbard regarding the Obama regime’s involvement in the Russiagate conspiracy. Price is the former spokesman for Joe Biden’s State Department, a role he took after his career as a CIA officer. Those facts alone should ring alarm bells about the veracity of his op-ed. Many members of the Biden administration have been named in Gabbard’s drops, and while Price is not among them, he has worked closely with them as a...

see this interesting post on X:Male college grads are now just as likely to be unemployed as people who never went to collegeSame is not true for women, who are much more likely to land a job once they graduate collegeThe data is just eye opening. We are leaving young men behind like never before pic.twitter.com/JTnEgO1Vls— Boring_Business (@BoringBiz_) July 18, 2025Young men tend to study subjects that are more relevant/needed for the global economy, whereas women tend to study the esoteric, questionable fields (besides nursing/health) that do not require much rigor...so I'm surprised by this. What's the culprit here?

The European Commission has requested a meeting with X to discuss its artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok. Last week, European countries and lawmakers called on the Commission to amp up scrutiny on the social media platform after the AI chatbot spewed out antisemitic remarks. Those included glorifying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler as the best-placed person to deal with alleged “anti-white hate.” Poland’s Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski said the government would consider banning the app, later asking the Commission to take action in a letter. X said it had removed the posts and that the problem was not related to...

I wondered if any FRiends were interested in prime numbers. You'll know that prime numbers are integers, and those which have only two factors, 1 and themselves. Except for 2, all other primes are odd numbers. By convention, the number 1 is not considered prime (but this is strictly a matter of definition because 1 does not entirely contradict the premise of being a multiple of 1 and itself). I cannot post this entire thread in one post so if you come across it in an early stage, be aware that a number of posts will follow rapidly until I...

NBC News found itself in hot water after broadcasting a story which appeared to divert scrutiny away from former President Joe Biden and his use of the autopen. However, the effort did the opposite and backfired — highlighting the network’s perceived hypocrisy. NBC attempted to “expose” Rep. James Comer (R-KY) for allegedly digitally signing letters and subpoenas, although this is a common practice in most offices. Anchors Ryan Nobles and Melanie Zanona, who delivered the segment, attempted to create a “both sides” narrative concerning the use of the autopen. Despite the effort, they made themselves targets for backlash from conservatives...