Free Republic

If it were up to Larry Ellison, the exorbitantly rich cofounder of software outfit Oracle, all of us will soon be smiling for the camera — constantly. Not for a cheery photograph, but to appease our super-invasive, if not totally omnipresent, algorithmic overseers. As Business Insider reports, the tech centibillionaire glibly predicts that the wonders of AI will bring about a new paradigm of supercharged surveillance, guaranteeing that the proles — excuse us, "citizens" — all behave and stay in line. "We're going to have supervision," Ellison said this week at an Oracle financial analysts meeting, per BI. "Every police...

The state's largest health insurer wants mental health patients to begin routinely filling out forms that include detailed questions about their sleep patterns, sex lives, and suicidal thoughts. The questionnaire, designed to gauge a patient's state of mind, is part of an effort by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts to measure the quality of mental health treatment its members receive. About 100,000 Blue Cross subscribers will receive the form, which was described in a mailing last week to psychiatrists and other mental health counselors. Until now, psychiatrists and therapists have been required to file reports on patients' progress with...

If the Democratic chieftains in Washington really want a window into why heartland residents are tuning out our party, they should stop huddling with loopy linguists from Berkeley like George Lakoff and just start reading Frank Rich's commentaries in the New York Times. There they will find a perfect distillation of the arrogance and narrow-mindedness that typifies the cultural thinking of our elites--and turns off red-state voters. In the view of Mr. Rich and his acolytes, freedom in our culture has been "under attack" ever since 9/11. Indeed, Mr. Rich has argued that this attack is being led by "new...

The sister of John Hinckley Jr. told a federal judge yesterday she could travel from her home in Dallas to help supervise her brother if he is allowed to leave the St. Elizabeths Hospital to visit their parents in Virginia.