Free Republic

The woman convicted of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart over two decades ago was arrested Thursday for violating her sex offender probation. Wanda Barzee, who abducted then-14-year-old Smart with her husband Brian David Mitchell in 2002, is accused of illegally ... In 2002, Barzee and Mitchell, who was a street preacher, went through an open window and abducted Smart from her Salt Lake City bedroom at knifepoint. The teen was raped on a near-daily basis, and lived with the couple in run-down homes and campsites in Utah and San Diego. Smart was found nine months later after a good Samaritan saw the...

Several families of October 7 victims have reportedly filed a lawsuit against the city of Sderot in southern Israel, as well as a company that manufactures “smart shelters,” for what they say is negligence that contributed to their loved ones’ murders by Hamas. The shelter, advertised as a “smart shelter,” was supposed to unlock during rocket sirens or other emergency alerts, but remained locked well after the first sirens sounded, leaving the victims unprotected from the rocket fire and the Hamas assault.

Governments are pushing the public to switch to smart vehicles to reduce fossil fuel consumption, but there is also a second motive – surveillance. This September, Ford filed a new patent to eavesdrop on riders. They plan to share this information with third-parties to personalize the advertisements riders hear. Ford will also take the driver’s destination into consideration to determine location-specific advertisements and suggestions. The technology will factor in the weather, traffic, and all external sensors to fine tune when and what to market to passengers. Advertisements are perhaps the least ominous use of voice data based on the plans...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America Reports,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated that “the automotive sector is moving towards EVs” and China pushed for an advantage in the EV market “because that’s the economically smart play” but “we can’t just sit back and let this happen on its own pace” because there’s a competition between the U.S. and China. Co-host John Roberts asked, “Tesla sales fell 8.5% the first quarter of this year, Ford, this week, is laying off two-thirds of its workforce at the F-150 electric Lightning plant, it’s also scaling back a battery production facility...

G.M. had provided information about braking, acceleration and speed to LexisNexis Risk Solution and Verisk, firms that generated driver risk profiles for insurers... General Motors said Friday that it had stopped sharing details about how people drove its cars with two data brokers that created risk profiles for the insurance industry. The decision followed a New York Times report this month that G.M. had, for years, been sharing data about drivers’ mileage, braking, acceleration and speed with the insurance industry. The drivers were enrolled — some unknowingly, they said — in OnStar Smart Driver, a feature in G.M.’s internet-connected cars...

SANTA MONICA, CA — A local man was tragically rendered unable to brush his teeth after he mistakenly neglected to pay the monthly subscription fee on his smart electric toothbrush. "Toothbrush functionality disabled," the toothbrush had chirped loudly after a payment was declined. "Please update your method of payment to continue brushing your teeth." "This is awful," said Jake Brown, owner of the toothbrush. "Things have just been so busy with the holidays and everything going on, I forgot to make this month's payment on my subscription for my OraDent Max, and now I haven't been able to brush my...

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) fired back at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) after the 2024 presidential candidate attacked a state law Pitzker signed letting non-U.S. citizens apply to be police officers. “This man isn’t smart enough to be president,” Pritzker said of DeSantis on Monday, writing a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “I proudly signed the bill allowing legal permanent residents & DACA recipients in IL to serve their communities as police officers. Our military already does it & it’s the right thing to do—no matter what lies the right-wing spreads,” Pritzker continued.

In today’s world of politically correct insanity, it’s truly baffling that a significant number of Americans willingly invite in their homes these advanced devices that constantly eavesdrop on their conversations and actions. Yet, that’s become the norm with gadgets like Echo and Alexa, which feel like creepy spies sitting in the corner, recording every noise you make. Well, one guy learned the hard way just how risky that idea can be when his doorbell accused him of being “racist” and Amazon completely shut down his entire “smart home.” The guy’s name is Brandon Jackson, and he gave a detailed account...

Forty-Seven percent of Democrats want someone other than Joe Biden running for president. He’s boring. He’s old. He lacks passion. Who would bet on this guy? Better check with Las Vegas. Biden is the favorite to win the 2024 presidential election, according to nonpartisan gamblers taking bets on the big political race. The reason people are betting on Biden is that his likely opponent is Donald Trump. Sixty-five percent of Americans recently told AP polling they cannot vote for Trump in 2024.

Over the last decade, plagued by a near-constant stream of mass shootings, a heated debate over gun safety has gripped the United States. While lawmakers around the country argue about ways to better regulate guns, or even if they should regulate them at all, a Colorado startup has turned to technology to help solve the problem. Biofire, which started as a high school science project in 2012, says it has now invented the first working biometric smart gun. It requires facial recognition and fingerprint verification to unlock and shoot. The company is now accepting pre-orders.

MSNBC contributor Jason Johnson said Monday on MSNBC’s “The Beat” that former Fox News host Tucker Carlson “was always a dumb person’s idea of what a smart bigot sounded like.” Johnson said, “That’s the most positive outgrowth of Tucker Carlson being fired. There are a lot of journalists I disagree with, there’s lots of people whose programming I might not find interesting, but he was a direct menace and directly responsible for stoking racism, and all sorts of vitriolic believes throughout his show.”

The world’s first “smart gun” hit the market Thursday, complete with a life-saving fingerprint unlocking system that prevents “unauthorized” people such as kids and criminals from firing it. The cutting-edge 9mm handgun locks out everybody except the owner and users specifically approved by the owner — technology that could improve gun safety in America, according to reps from the gun-making firm Biofire. “Right now it seems like the entire country is always processing a new tragedy involving children and guns,” the Colorado-based firm’s CEO Kai Kloepfer told The Post. “We are offering a real solution, at a time when solutions...

As net-zero policies wreak havoc federally, individual states desire to stymie its ruinous consequence. The Commonwealth of Kentucky wants to implement measures to shield their electric grid from instability wrought by unreliable, costly renewable energy adoption. The General Assembly is deliberating legislation, Senate Bill 4, to remedy this issue. If passed, the bill would require the Public Service Commission to prove coal plant retirement won’t negatively impact grid reliability and resilience. All the while having no adverse impact on electric utility rate affordability. As of this writing, the bill passed the state senate by a 25-8 vote. It now awaits...

Twitter CEO Elon Musk is not messing around. The billionaire truly does want to take over the world. Back in October, Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion and made it clear from day one that he had high ambitions. As Elon Musk strives to revive Twitter, the company has taken action by submitting applications for regulatory licenses in various parts of the US and developing the necessary software to incorporate payments within the social media platform. This would directly compete with PayPal who has been slammed by Conservatives for their ‘woke’ practices including banning and suspending payments from people who...

Georgia Senate hopeful Herschel Walker (R) downplayed himself ahead of his debate with Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) next month, saying “I’m not that smart” — comments that his campaign argued were sarcasm. After some haggling between the two campaigns, the candidates announced last week that Warnock and Walker would be participating in a televised debate on Oct. 14 with Savannah, Ga., Nexstar affiliate WSAV. The Hill is owned by Nexstar.

22,000 people lost control of temperatures in their homes for hours Tuesday.. DENVER — During the dog days of summer, it's important to keep your home cool. But when thousands of Xcel customers in Colorado tried adjusting their thermostats Tuesday, they learned they had no control over the temperatures in their own homes. ... Xcel confirmed to Contact Denver7 that 22,000 customers who had signed up for the Colorado AC Rewards program were locked out of their smart thermostats for hours on Tuesday. "It's a voluntary program. Let's remember that this is something that customers choose to be a part...

Dr. Mehmet Oz has quietly ditched his campaign messaging away from President Trump after winning the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. Prior to Oz’s win, Trump was proudly featured on his campaign site and popped up on the doctor’s Twitter. However, after winning the Republican nomination, Oz hasn’t included or mentioned Trump since. Oz’s Twitter banner used to say “endorsed by Trump,” featuring a photo of the pair, now there is only a solo photo of Oz that reads “Thank you Pennsylvania.”

Russian conscripts are being given 19th century rifles, made to drink from ponds filled with dead frogs and ordered to draw enemy fire, they have revealed. Soldiers in the Russian-backed Donbas region have spoken of how they have been sent to fight Ukraine's forces with no training, a lack of food and water, and inadequate equipment - as Moscow's armies continue to suffer heavy losses. -snip- The Donbas armed forces are fighting alongside Russian soldiers but are not part of the Russian armed forces, which have different rules about which troops they send into combat. Several Donbas draftees have been...

LONDON — Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the green light on Friday to bring in thousands of fighters from the Middle East to fight against Ukraine. At a meeting of Russia’s Security Council, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said there were 16,000 volunteers in the Middle East who were ready to come to fight with Russian-backed forces in the breakaway Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.

With temperatures set to plunge in Ukraine in the coming days, Russian soldiers in the 40-mile convoy of tanks could freeze to death. Glen Grant, a senior defence expert at the Baltic Security Foundation, told Newsweek that the tanks will turn into huge refrigerators for the Russian army if they are not running the engine. "The boys won't wait, they will get out, start walking to the forest, and give themselves up to avoid freezing to death," Grant added. The concerns have been raised as the convoy, heading towards Ukraine capital Kyiv, has slowed down amid the war. It is...