Free Republic

Why all of a sudden has the Transgender issue in the bathroom become the latest craze of the lib-left? Why is it that there are few, if any, Transgender Bathrooms in the White House, the House of Commons, at Brussels EU headquarters, the UN or in the hallowed halls of any other nation’s ivory towers? Many of the occupants of these edifices, who spent taxpayers’ billions in renovation projects, didn’t see the march of the transgenders coming? It’s because like taxes, bylaws, decrees, ordinances and rules sent down the pike from authorities the world over, the forced use of transgender...

Today's high-end televisions are almost all equipped with "smart" PC-like features, including Internet connectivity, apps, microphones and cameras. But a recently discovered security hole in some Samsung Smart TVs shows that many of those bells and whistles aren't ready for prime time. The flaws in Samsung Smart TVs, which have now been patched, enabled hackers to remotely turn on the TVs' built-in cameras without leaving any trace of it on the screen. While you're watching TV, a hacker anywhere around the world could have been watching you. Hackers also could have easily rerouted an unsuspecting user to a malicious website...

For many living in a terror-spooked country, it might seem like a great government innovation: Use vans equipped with mobile X-ray units to scan vehicles at major sporting events, or even randomly, for bombs or contraband

Privacy-conscious travelers may cringe to think of the full-body scanners finding their way into dozens of airport checkpoints around the country. Most likely aren't aware that the same technology, capable of seeing through walls and clothes, has also been rolling out on U.S. streets. American Science & Engineering, a company based in Billerica, Mass., has sold U.S. and foreign government agencies more than 500 backscatter X-ray scanners mounted in vans that can be driven past neighboring vehicles or cargo containers to snoop into their contents. And while the biggest buyer of AS&E's machines over the last seven years has been...

Imagine taking your 16-year-old daughter to the store and having a pervert aim a camera up her skirt and take pictures. You would expect the man to be arrested, tried and convicted for being a peeping tom. But if you live in Oklahoma, you would be wrong. Only two out of the three steps in the process happened; the pervert was not sent to jail. (The American Heritage College dictionary defines a "pervert" as "one who practices sexual perversion" and "perversion" as "a sexual practice or act considered deviant." In my opinion, this man is a pervert.) Instead, the Oklahoma...

Texans to face $1,000 per Day Fines for Possession of Baby Chick Alert - State — walterj 1:52 am With House Bill 1361 Texas legislators are determined to keep track of every single little baby chick in Texas. Each cutie must be tagged with a 15 digit number to identify it. All locations containing livestock animals must register as farms. $10 annual premise ID and premise registration fee will be required for all homes where any animal ever exists, even if just visiting. Anyone found not reporting a baby chick hatching, movement or death will face a fine of $1,000...

VANCOUVER (CP) - The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that masturbating at home is not an offence, even if the activity can be seen by peeking neighbours.   The case centred on whether a private space - Daryl Clark's living room - became public because others could view it. The high court said No in a unanimous ruling Thursday. "The living room of his private home was not a place 'to which the public (had) access as of right or by invitation, express or implied,' " Justice Morris Fish wrote, quoting the Criminal Code. "I do not believe it (access)...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Women, beware: Those "eye in the sky" surveillance cameras used by casinos don't just look for card cheats and crooked dealers. Sometimes, they look for low-cut blouses. New Jersey casino regulators fined Caesars Atlantic City Hotel Casino $80,000 Wednesday for using surveillance cameras to spy on female employees and customers sitting at casino tables or riding escalators. On three occasions in 2000 and 2001, Caesars surveillance camera operators "recorded footage of selected parts of the anatomy of several females," in violation of statutes governing the use of clandestine surveillance by casinos, authorities said.

CHICAGO -- U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve, presiding in a sexual harassment suit filed by a former waitress at a Hooters restaurant, sent the jurors out to deliberate about 3:35 p.m. Tuesday. At 8 p.m., the jurors returned with a verdict in favor of Joanna Ciesielski, the waitress who brought the lawsuit. The jury awarded Ciesielski $25,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages. "My mom and dad always told me from the very beginning that the truth will set you free, and it's true," Ciesielski said after the verdict. Hooters' attorneys filed a motion asking the judge...

Patent leather shoes were once banned from some Catholic schools: Despite girls' modest shin-length skirts, their unmentionables might be reflected in the shiny part of their shoes. Fast-forward to 2004, when some students in south Palm Beach County supposedly slipped their camera cellphones under girls' skirts for a digital peepshow. That prompted the school board Monday to do a little banning of its own: the camera phone. Having them on campus, on school buses or at any school-sponsored activity, even out of sight, won't be allowed if the board affirms the policy Sept. 13. Low-tech cellphones and cameras that aren't...

A San Francisco police officer faces internal charges that he abandoned his traffic control duties at the airport so he could fiddle with surveillance cameras and ogle women as they walked through the terminal.

DETROIT - Andrea Carlton hadn't planned on telling her daughter about the birds and bees until she was 8 or 9. But that changed the night 4-year-old Catherine spotted a porno movie flickering on a screen in a minivan nearby.

As if it was divine retribution, three men were struck by lightning while they peeped at a pair of passionate lovers having sex in a car in a hillside area in Taipei. Hiding in a broken hut and each using a high-powered telescope, the three were so oblivious as they watched the lovers' act that they did not notice lightning flashing in the sky before a bolt hit the hut, police said yesterday. "All three were hit at the same time, but survived as they appeared to have evenly shared the impact of the super-high voltage electric current when the...