Free Republic

Higher Taxes: Labour plans to raise taxes on North Sea oil and gas producers. Specifically, they intend to increase the existing windfall taxes from the current 75% to 78%. This move aims to fund their ‘green prosperity plan’, which includes investments in renewables through a state-owned vehicle called Great British Energy. Ban on New Licenses: Labour has pledged not to award any new North Sea oil and gas licenses if they come into power. This policy directly impacts potential developments like the Buchan oilfield, which contains approximately 100 million barrels of oil and was scheduled to produce its first oil...

Non-citizens, migrants, and illegal aliens will be permitted to apply for a driver’s license in Illinois starting on July 1. Illinois Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed HB 3882 in June of last year to allow all migrants to get a state driver’s license, and the law is about to go into effect. “This legislation is a significant step in eliminating the barriers to opportunity that many undocumented immigrants face,” Pritzker said when he signed the legislation last year. “We’re ensuring every eligible individual can obtain a driver’s license, making our roads safer, decreasing stigma, and creating more equitable systems for...

"America is the land of opportunity." "I believe the most qualified person should get the job." "America is a melting pot." Those are examples of harmful "microaggressions," according to Columbia professor Derald Wing Sue, lauded by Oregon's state government as a "microaggressions expert." Now, under a soon-to-be-finalized ethics rule from the Oregon Medical Board, doctors who commit "microaggressions" risk losing their medical licenses. Under Oregon law, doctors who fail to report "unprofessional conduct" from themselves or a colleague within 10 business days can face severe penalties, including loss of license. The state's medical board is in the process of shoehorning...

Officials within a police department in Maine warned that they have seen an “uptick” in fake social security numbers being used for driver’s licenses. Darcy Valido, the communications assistant director of operations for the Sanford Regional Communications Center within the Sanford Police Department, sent an email warning that officials had seen an increase in the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) issuing driver’s licenses that are “using 999-99-9999” as the social security number, according to Maine Wire. “We’ve seen an uptick in DMV using 999-99-9999 for social security numbers,” Valido wrote in a May 23 email to several police departments in...

This month Minnesota became the latest state to allow illegal immigrants to get a driver’s license as part of a burgeoning national trend to reward undocumented residents with government benefits. In all, 19 states and the District of Columbia have passed bills that permit foreigners living in the U.S. illegally to obtain driver’s licenses. Earlier this year laws went into effect in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and a few weeks ago Minnesota’s measure, known as Driver’s Licenses for All, went into effect. Officials estimate that about 80,000 illegal immigrants who were previously disqualified from obtaining the cards in the North...

The open source war is over, however much some want to continue soldiering on. Recently Meta (Facebook) released Llama 2, a powerful large language model (LLM) with more than 70 billion parameters. In the past, Meta had restricted use of its LLMs to research purposes, but with Llama 2, Meta opened it up; the only restriction is that it can’t be used for commercial purposes. Only a handful of companies have the computational horsepower to deploy it at scale (Google, Amazon, and very, very few others).This means, of course, it’s not “open source” according to the Open Source Definition (OSD),...

Tens of thousands of illegal aliens across Massachusetts are rushing to secure driver’s licenses after voters approved a law to extend driving privileges to those in the United States illegally. Data from the state’s Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV), published by Chris Van Buskirk of the Boston Herald, shows that about 100,000 requests for appointments to get a learner’s permit have been placed since July 1, when the law took effect.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) has signed a Democrat-approved bill into law that will give driver’s licenses to potentially 77,000 eligible illegal aliens. In January and February, Democrats in the Minnesota state house and senate approved the bill to eliminate the legal residency requirement for obtaining a driver’s license in the state. Instead, illegal aliens would be able to secure licenses to legally drive vehicles. This week, Walz signed the legislation, claiming giving driver’s licenses to illegal aliens “will make our communities safer for all Minnesotans.”

New Bill In Tennessee Aims To Create Digital Driver License. Democrat Senator Mark Mullet who sponsored the new bill stated “I learned from the ease of having vaccine information on your cell phone why it would make sense to also offer this option for folks when it comes to their driver’s license.”

Democrats in Minnesota are moving forward with a plan to give driver’s licenses to potentially 77,000 eligible illegal aliens. On Monday, the Democrat-controlled Minnesota state house passed a bill that will eliminate the legal residency requirement for obtaining a driver’s license in the state. Instead, tens of thousands of illegal aliens, possibly 77,000, would be able to secure licenses to drive. Now, the bill heads to the state senate, where Democrats hold 34 seats and Republicans hold 33 seats. Already, Democrat Gov. Tim Walz has said he will sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) has vetoed a plan by Democrats that would allow tens of thousands of illegal aliens in the state to obtain driver’s licenses. After Democrats in the Massachusetts state legislature passed the plan with wide majorities, the legislation ended up on Baker’s desk. Baker said he vetoed the plan because it “significantly increases the risk that noncitizens will be registered to vote.”

They have decried COVID-19 as a hoax, promoted unproven treatments and pushed bogus claims about the vaccine, including that the shots magnetize the human body. The purveyors of this misinformation are not shadowy figures operating in the dark corners of the internet. They are a small but vocal group of doctors practicing medicine in communities around the country. Now medical boards are under increasing pressure to act. Organizations that advocate for public health have called on them to take a harder line by disciplining the doctors, including potentially revoking their licenses. The push comes as the pandemic enters a second...

Suppliers to two blacklisted Chinese companies—telecom giant Huawei and China’s top chipmaker SMIC—were approved to receive billions of dollars worth of licenses for U.S. technologies shipments between November and April, documents released by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on Oct. 21 detail.Some 301 licenses worth a total of $103 billion were approved for suppliers to sell goods to Huawei and SMIC, according to the documents prepared by the Commerce Department.Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) were put on a U.S. trade blacklist, known as the “entity list,” in May 2019 and December 2020 respectively over national security concerns....

A great man once explained why New Jersey needed to tighten up its requirements for issuing driver’s licenses. "In an era after 9/11 it is so critical to have working safeguards to show we are who we say we are,” this man said back in 2004 as he implemented an ID system with a six-point verification system to prevent fraud. That great man – or perhaps I should say “great politician” - was none other than Jim McGreevey. Though his run as governor ended later that year for unrelated reasons, McGreevey had the soundest of political instincts. As for the...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio wants you to have a bicycle license as well as a helmet to legally ride a bike and promises to regulate cyclists with stricter law enforcement. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2zks7lxTmA  

The California Department of Motor Vehicles on Wednesday said it has discovered it sent the Secretary of State’s Office 23,000 erroneous voter registrations. The agency said the errors occurred within the state’s Motor Voter program — which allows eligible applicants getting a driver license to be automatically registered to vote.

Californians no longer will face losing their driver's licenses because of unpaid traffic fines starting next month. Gov. Jerry Brown said the punishment doesn't help the state collect unpaid fines and can send low-income people into a cycle of job losses and more poverty.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Anti-Trump conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch are helping illegal immigrants in the U.S. obtain driver’s licenses, as well as preparing them for citizenship tests. A fluff piece by TIME Magazine spotlights the Koch Brothers’ LIBRE Initiative organization for its work being done to help illegal immigrants while President Trump and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have successfully increased immigration enforcement. “It is chaotic. People are very, very worried about their situation,” says Aguado. “One of the things that has been a positive thing through this stress that people have is that they’re more interested in becoming...

CHICAGO (AP) -- Authorities found two bodies at the home of a federal judge Monday night, and Chicago police and the FBI were investigating. The bodies were found at the home of U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow, but the judge was uninjured, police spokesman Patrick Camden said. He declined to elaborate. FBI agents were assisting police but would provide no details.

Californians were deceived when the state’s Democrat-dominated legislature and governor rammed through legislation granting drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. The extraordinary step of granting drivers licenses to people with no right to be in this country was justified to Californians on the basis of the need to reduce the number of uninsured motorists, who cause damage and injury to other without having any means to pay for the losses they cause.