Free Republic

Estonia, a tiny Northern European nation of fewer than 1.4 million inhabitants, has made impressive strides in digitizing, streamlining, and modernizing its government functions. Estonia famously launched its “e-residency” program that allows practically anybody — including foreigners — to access Estonian government services. Its digital national ID smartcard blazed the trail of next-generation government-issued IDs — despite its (significant) security vulnerabilities. And it’s not just the court system that’s getting an AI overhaul in the country — in fact, AI already has automated a number of government functions. It’s scanning satellite images with algorithms to determine if subsidized farming operations...

After winning a judgment of more than $5,000 but seeing Home Depot balk at paying, Virgil Zoth finally found a way to get the giant retailer's attention. Flanked by constable's deputies, the Deer Park resident walked into his local Home Depot earlier this month and seized nine John Deere riding lawnmowers. Now the Atlanta-based corporation is ready to write him a check. Zoth says he'll believe it when the money's in his hands. "They lied before," he said Thursday. His long struggle with the company, which offers itself as a do-it-yourselfers Mecca, began last summer when he bought wall-to-wall carpet...