Free Republic

There may be no exact translation for “humbug” in Chinese, but in recent days, as popular fervor for the trappings of Western-style Christmas enveloped this officially atheist nation, the defenders of traditional Chinese culture have fought back with Scrooge-like zeal. On Wednesday, university students in the central province of Hunan held an anti-Christmas pageant with banners declaring “Chinese should not celebrate foreign festivals.” Education officials in the coastal city of Wenzhou issued a decree banning the celebration of Christmas-themed events at schools. Students at a university in northwestern China were forced to endure three hours of propaganda films, including one...

The collapse of XP support by Microsoft has led to a proliferation of disruptive internet advertising. These "SmarterPower" thugs are wrecking my FR access. Is this a plot? How do does one keep these ani off one's computer? They "pop-up" at every keystroke. And they have sound!Who needs this? Why pay an ISP or a cable company if they are selling us to every internet advertiser. Of course, the main issue is security and KGB-like surveillance by the Alinskyites. WTF are these people?

By now we know that every purchase a consumer makes is added to a list detailing one’s spending and life-style habit, which is used to target people for marketing campaigns and other services. But how would you feel if that information was used by your doctors to keep tabs on your health? A new report from Bloomberg details how hospitals are using our habits such as buying cigarettes or skipping the gym to create patient profiles in order to identify those who are most likely to get sick.

Orange cones and flashing police lights confronted Ricardo Nieves as he rounded a bend on the way to his mother’s house. Before he knew what was going on, Nieves said a man working for a government contractor stepped in front of his car and forced him to turn into a parking lot. There, a woman repeatedly tried to question him about his driving habits and asked for a mouth swab that would detect the presence of illegal or prescription drugs in his system. Nieves refused. Then he sued, contending his rights were violated. His Dec. 13 experience has been repeated...

In an initiative aimed at rooting out future leakers and other security violators, President Barack Obama has ordered federal employees to report suspicious actions of their colleagues based on behavioral profiling techniques that are not scientifically proven to work, according to experts and government documents.

Media Matters has weighed in on the news that the Justice Department secretly seized extensive phone records from the Associated Press, and the left-wing advocacy group is siding with the government. “The AP revealed yesterday that the Justice Department secretly obtained two months of reporter and editor phone records from 2012, likely as part of an investigation into leaks around a counterterrorist operation in the Arabian Peninsula,” reads a Tuesday afternoon post on the Media Matters Action Network website. “If the press compromised active counter-terror operations for a story that only tipped off the terrorists, that sounds like it should...

Connecticut legislator DebraLee Hovey, a six-term Republican state representative for the towns of Monroe and Newtown, had some candid, if ill-advised words for Gabrielle Giffords, who visited with victims of the Sandy Hook shooting on Friday. "Gabby Gifford [sic] stay out of my towns!!" Hovey wrote on her then-public Facebook, via mobile from Saint Pete Beach, Florida. "It was political," she elaborated in the comments, according to cringey screenshots obtained by the Hartford Courant. "The Lt Gov was there […] and ALL political types KNOW it is courteous to let sitting Reps known when another political [sic] is in their...

ASHLAND, Ky. (AP) - Whatever may be prowling around Ashland doesn't appear to be a typical Kentucky Wildcat. Ashland Police Maj. Todd Kelley said two people have called in reports of seeing a mountain lion or cougar around the city in the last several days. Kelley told The Independent that the sightings haven't been confirmed by animal control officers or police, but people should not approach any unfamiliar large animal.

Do I have to respond to the American Community Survey / Puerto Rico Community Survey? Yes. Respondents are required to answer all questions on the American Community Survey (ACS) to the best of their ability. Response to this and other Census surveys is required by law (Section 221 of Title 13, Chapter 7, United States Code). This chapter also contains information regarding offenses and possible penalties. According to Section 221, persons who do not respond shall be fined not more than $100. Title 18 U.S.C. Section 3571 and Section 3559, in effect amends Title 13 U.S.C. Section 221 by changing...

Many of us who have eyes to see are quite aware of the trouble our nation is in today. We understand that our government, courts, education system, entertainment industry and all our other major institutions have been invaded, and in many cases commandeered, by communist enemies within our own country—people who were blessed to be born in this, the greatest nation in the history of the world, only to turn with a deadly vengeance the knife of corruption on their own country. These people are deluded at best, and black-heartedly evil at worst. With the mind-numbing volume of outright criminal...

Beginning in June of 2011, all new cars manufactured and sold in the United States will be required to have a mandated black box device installed, which can be used to monitor several different physical and technical data points. (snip) The installation and use of these black boxes can have infinite possibilities for local, state, and federal governments to monitor and record data for a number of other revenue programs that are currently under consideration. In March, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a proposal to institute a tax on mileage to help pay for the federal budget deficit. Additionally,...

MIAMI (CBS4) – Miami-Dade’s newest crime fighting tool is a literal ‘eye in the sky’. The Micro Air Vehicle, or MAV for short, is a small radio controlled drone aircraft equipped with a portable camera system. Miami-Dade Sgt. Andrew Cohen said drone will be used to gather real time information in situations which may be too dangerous for officers. “If an SRT (Special Response Team) has to go into an area they don’t know what’s there, we don’t know what is in the backyard,” said Cohen, “They want to know if there are dogs in the backyard, if there is...

Stepped-up security screening at airports in the wake of foiled terrorism plots has provoked an outcry from airline pilots and travelers, including parents of children who say they are too intrusive. Are you less likely to fly because of stepped-up security procedures such as full-body scans and patdowns? Yes - I will make alternate travel plans to avoid intrusive security scans and patdowns No - It is a necessary procedure to ensure terror plots are thwarted Undecided

It is just a technical matter, the Obama administration says: We just need to make a slight change in a law to make clear that we have the right to see the names of anyone’s e-mail correspondents and their Web browsing history without the messy complication of asking a judge for permission. It is far more than a technical change. The administration’s request, reported Thursday in The Washington Post, is an unnecessary and disappointing step backward toward more intrusive surveillance from a president who promised something very different during the 2008 campaign.

N. Korean naval boats violate western sea border SEOUL, May 16 (Yonhap) -- Two North Korean patrol boats separately crossed into South Korean waters on Saturday night but retreated after the South Korean Navy fired warning shots, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JSC) said Sunday. According to JSC officials, a North Korean naval boat crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea at 10:13 p.m. Saturday and came about 2.2 kilometers into South Korean waters. The North Korean boat sailed back to the North 30 minutes later after receiving a warning communication from the South Korean Navy, they...

The system that Lower Merion school officials used to track lost and stolen laptops wound up secretly capturing thousands of images, including photographs of students in their homes, Web sites they visited, and excerpts of their online chats, says a new motion filed in a suit against the district. Back at district offices, the Robbins motion says, employees with access to the images marveled at the tracking software. It was like a window into "a little LMSD soap opera," a staffer is quoted as saying in an e-mail to Carol Cafiero, the administrator running the program. "I know, I love...

Former President George W. Bush, outlining plans for a new public policy institute, on Thursday said America must fight the temptation to allow the federal government to take control of the private sector, declaring that too much government intervention will squelch economic recovery and expansion.

Klingenschmitt said, "Please call 202-456-1111 today, and tell White House comment line operators: 'Mr. President, please keep your promise and veto the F-35 second engine in the Pentagon Budget, 2010 Defense Authorization Act.'" "Several months ago, President Obama promised to veto the Pentagon budget if it contained funding for the F-22 or a second engine for the F-35. The Senate killed the F-22, but after receiving nearly 22,000 faxes from us in the last 48 hours, the House ignored Obama's veto threat and voted Thursday to fully fund a second engine for F-35s. The House also sadly attached the pro-homosexual...

The Obama administration has for the first time set out its views on the controversial USA Patriot Act, telling lawmakers this week that legal approval of government surveillance methods scheduled to expire in December should be renewed, but leaving room to tweak the law to protect Americans' privacy. In a letter from Justice Department officials to key members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the administration recommended that Congress move swiftly with legislation that would protect the government's ability to collect a variety of business and credit card records and to monitor terrorism suspects with roving wiretaps. But Assistant Attorney General...

Backing up data is a pain in the neck. The only way to make people do it is to automate the process. Mozy does that. Many of us have suffered a data-destroying computer crash. But some stories are better than others. Josh Diulio, a marketing exec from Monroe, Mich., left his HP laptop sitting on a ledge on the balcony of his apartment building while he ran inside to get a drink. When he came back a crow was perched on the open laptop. The crow, startled by Diulio, leaped up and away, tipping the laptop just enough that it...