Free Republic 3rd Qtr 2025 Fundraising Target: $81,000 Receipts & Pledges to-date: $4,257
5%  
Woo hoo!! 3rd Qtr 2025 FReepathon is now underway!!

Technical (News/Activism)

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • Ford plans to hire Chinese military software supplier for EV factory in US: GOP investigators

    01/29/2024 5:02:14 PM PST · by Libloather · 30 replies
    Fox News via MSN ^ | 1/29/24 | Thomas Catenacci
    Ford Motor Company is planning to contract technology and software from at least four Chinese firms that supply similar services to the Chinese government and military, and the North Korean government, according to contracts obtained by Republican investigators. The revelations — which were released Monday by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., the chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. — are part of the GOP's ongoing joint investigation into Ford's partnership with Fujian, China-based electric vehicle (EV) battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL).
  • Study: Thousands of Companies Are Monitoring Every Facebook User

    01/21/2024 4:30:17 PM PST · by chickenlips · 61 replies
    Breitbart ^ | Jan. 20, 2024 | Lucas Nolan
    A recent study by Consumer Reports, in collaboration with The Markup, has unveiled the extensive scale of data tracking aimed at Facebook users. Some users in the study were tracked by as many as 7,000 companies. A recent study from Consumer Reports engaged 709 volunteers who provided archives of their Facebook user data. Astonishingly, Consumer Reports discovered that 186,892 different companies transmitted data about these users to Facebook. On average, data from each participant was shared by 2,230 companies, with some users’ data being shared by over 7,000 companies. This examination highlighted a lesser-known form of tracking known as server-to-server...
  • Inside Biden’s secret surveillance court

    01/21/2024 10:00:01 AM PST · by Twotone · 20 replies
    Politico ^ | January 17, 2024 | Alfred Ng & John Sakellariadis
    At an undetermined date, in an undisclosed location, the Biden administration began operating a secretive new court to protect Europeans’ privacy rights under U.S. law. Officially known as the Data Protection Review Court, it was authorized in an October 2022 executive order to fix a collision of European and American law that had been blocking the lucrative flow of consumer data between American and European companies for three years. The court’s eight judges were named last November, including former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Its existence has allowed companies to resume the lucrative transatlantic data trade with the blessing of...
  • How (not) to reorganize the Air Force

    01/19/2024 5:04:33 AM PST · by Fish Speaker · 24 replies
    Breaking Defense ^ | January 18, 2024 at 12:07 PM | Adam Lowther and Curtis McGiffin
    After months of study, the Air Force may (or may not) be on the verge of a major restructuring. While a shakeup has yet to be confirmed — much less the details of the plan — in this op-ed nuclear policy experts Adam Lowther and Curtis McGiffin examine one road that they say Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall should definitely not follow. During the Space Force Association’s annual conference in mid-December, Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, the commander of Space Systems Command, raised eyebrows when he said, “The Air Force is going to get rid of the major command structure.” He...
  • Inside Boeing’s plans to fix its troubled KC-46A tanker

    01/19/2024 4:54:54 AM PST · by Fish Speaker · 10 replies
    Breaking Defense ^ | January 18, 2024 at 9:13 AM | Michael Marrow
    EVERETT, Wash. — In the wake of Boeing’s KC-46A Pegasus topping $7 billion in losses, company officials have been eager to stem the tide of the tanker’s long-running woes — and resolve several critical issues that pose risks to its operations. The Pegasus currently has six category 1 deficiencies, Air Force terminology for problems that could cause loss of an aircraft, injury, or death. Spending money to fix those issues has helped drive Boeing’s staggering losses on the program, and is a key reason why company officials have sworn off fixed-price development contracts like those that govern the KC-46A. Work...
  • United, Alaska Find Loose Parts on Some Boeing 737 MAX 9 Jets

    01/09/2024 5:04:14 PM PST · by Red Badger · 38 replies
    Wall Street Journal ^ | Jan. 9, 2024 9:55 am ET | Andrew Tangel , Alison Sider , Sharon Terlep and Nancy Keates
    Investigators say a door plug on Alaska Airlines 1282 came loose from fittings meant to hold it to the plane ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ United Airlines and Alaska Airlines have discovered loose parts on Boeing BA -1.41%decrease; red down pointing triangle 737 MAX 9 jets that they have inspected after a near-catastrophe on a flight Friday, signaling Boeing’s issues go beyond the aircraft that made an emergency landing. The disclosures came shortly before investigators at the National Transportation Safety Board said that dangerous episode on an Alaska Airlines jet occurred because an emergency exit-sized door plug blew out at around 16,000 feet after...
  • Commercial Flights Are Experiencing 'Unthinkable' GPS Attacks and Nobody Knows What to Do

    11/21/2023 11:56:32 AM PST · by Lonesome in Massachussets · 98 replies
    Motherboard (tech by VICE) ^ | November 20, 2023 | Matthew Gault
    Commercial air crews are reporting something “unthinkable” in the skies above the Middle East: novel “spoofing” attacks have caused navigation systems to fail in dozens of incidents since September. In late September, multiple commercial flights near Iran went astray after navigation systems went blind. The planes first received spoofed GPS signals, meaning signals designed to fool planes’ systems into thinking they are flying miles away from their real location. One of the aircraft almost flew into Iranian airspace without permission. Since then, air crews discussing the problem online have said it’s only gotten worse, and experts are racing to establish...
  • Carbon dioxide does not cause climate change. "No gas causes warming"

    11/06/2023 6:53:40 AM PST · by foundedonpurpose · 74 replies
    The Washington Times ^ | Wednesday, July 12, 2023 | James T. Moodey
    Carbon dioxide does not cause climate change No gas causes warming COMMENTARY By James T. Moodey Wednesday, July 12, 2023 OPINION: The green movement’s climate-change scheme is based upon the false notion that carbon dioxide and other gases cause global warming. They do not. We don’t have to guess about this. We have empirical and scientific proof. I owned a Weights and Measures gas-physics test-and-repair facility and conducted tests. We learned gas physics from engineers at factories that manufacture gas-physics instruments. A card so good, our experts signed up personally A card so good, our experts signed up personally Paid...
  • How Microsoft is making a mess of the news after replacing staff with AI

    11/04/2023 1:50:00 PM PDT · by algore · 20 replies
    False claims that President Joe Biden fell asleep during a moment of silence for victims of the Maui wildfire. A conspiracy theory that the latest surge in Covid-19 cases is being orchestrated by the Democratic Party ahead of the election. An obituary for a late NBA player that described him as “useless.” These false and bizarre stories aren’t showing up on some far-flung corner of the internet — they’re being published by Microsoft. The company’s homepage, also known as MSN.com and Microsoft Start, remains one of the world’s most trafficked websites and a place where millions of Americans get their...
  • Engineers develop an efficient process to make fuel from carbon dioxide

    10/30/2023 4:14:06 PM PDT · by DUMBGRUNT · 70 replies
    Tech Xplore ^ | 30 Oct 2023 | David L. Chandler
    researchers at MIT and Harvard University have developed an efficient process that can convert carbon dioxide into formate, a liquid or solid material that can be used like hydrogen or methanol to power a fuel cell and generate electricity. ...However, the researchers expect it to be scalable so that it could provide emissions-free heat and power to individual homes and even be used in industrial or grid-scale applications. These crystals have an indefinite shelf life, remaining so stable that they could be stored for years, or even decades, with little or no loss. By comparison, even the best available practical...
  • Newest F-35, F-15EX contracts are set. Here’s how much they cost

    10/27/2023 6:12:14 AM PDT · by Fish Speaker · 9 replies
    Breaking Defense ^ | October 26, 2023 at 4:15 PM | Michael Marrow
    WASHINGTON — The flyaway cost for the F-15EX Eagle II is approximately $90 million for each aircraft in the program’s second production lot, about $7.5 million more than the newest price for an F-35A, Breaking Defense has learned. The Air Force has confirmed to Breaking Defense that a contract for the next three production lots of the Boeing-made F-15EX was finalized on Sept. 28, a major milestone for the program. But the $90 million per unit cost in the contract — a number that is expected to grow in successive lots — will likely raise eyebrows among critics both within...
  • Why your $10 donation matters to Freerepublic, AI vid

    Made this video using AI
  • Rand Paul: Biden May Use “Internet Kill Switch” for Emergency Powers

    10/16/2023 6:46:25 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 62 replies
    Daily Fetched ^ | October 16, 2023 | Jason Walsh
    Kentucky Republican Rand Paul warned of a little-known federal law that allows the president of the United States to shut down the internet with a “kill switch.” Paul warned that the government’s ” emergency powers ” can remove freedoms in the name of safety and security, including an internet “kill switch” to turn off the Internet. “We’ve also looked at the emergency powers and emergency powers — you know the courts have said you don’t throw out the Constitution during emergencies — but a lot of our legislation acts as if you could throw things away,” Paul told Atlas on...
  • Carbon Dioxide Does Not Cause Global Warming: We don’t have to guess about this. We have empirical and scientific proof.

    10/13/2023 8:08:30 AM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 64 replies
    American Thinker ^ | 10/13/23 | James T. Moodey
    The climate-change scheme and net-zero carbon policy are based upon a false notion that carbon dioxide and other gases cause global warming. They do not. We don’t have to guess about this. We have empirical and scientific proof. I owned a Weights and Measures gas-physics test-and-repair facility and conducted tests. We learned gas physics from engineers at factories that manufacture gas-physics instruments. They must understand gas physics, or their instruments won’t work. How academia got this wrongIn 1988, James Hansen flip-flopped from “global cooling” to “global warming” being dangerous. Al Gore fed the fear with $22 billion in annual funding...
  • The Traditional Media Panics as Elon Musk's X Platform Destroys Their Ability to Control What You See

    10/11/2023 5:41:44 PM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 11 replies
    Red State ^ | 10/11/2023 | Streiff
    The outbreak of war between Israel and the Hamas-run government of the Palestinian enclave in Gaza has pushed "X," the social media platform formerly known as Prince, I mean Twitter, to the forefront of news distribution. Some, however, claim that X is so overrun by misinformation that it is useless. Evidence, however, shows that this critique is driven by a dislike of the changes Elon Musk made to democratize X, laziness on the part of online and traditional media, and the inability of corporate media to control the narrative.“This is the hardest time I’ve ever had covering a crisis on...
  • With a New Commissioner, FCC Finally May Try to Reinstate Net Neutrality

    09/26/2023 8:50:19 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 12 replies
    gizmodo ^ | 26 September 2023 | By Kyle Barr
    It’s been six years since internet service providers were granted a boon allowing them to push and pull the levers of internet speeds for any website that may not want to pay a ransom. The end to limitations of what is called net neutrality has tugged at the heartstrings of many internet advocates According to unnamed sources who spoke to Bloomberg, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is just about ready to announce plans to bring back net neutrality rules. It comes just a few weeks after Congress finally approved new commissioner Anna Gomez, allowing for a 3-2 Democrat majority on...
  • Tech mag 'Wired' says it's 'immoral' to want biological children

    09/02/2023 12:24:37 PM PDT · by Impala64ssa · 53 replies
    Post Millennial ^ | 9/1/23 | Sara Hidgeon
    Tech news magazine Wired published a story, and made it an editor's pick, on Thursday that claimed it was "immoral" to want children who share one's genetic makeup and claimed that reducing biologism could be a way to "push back against the biological essentialism built into white supremacy." In the intro, the author rejects the notion that having a biological child creates a hardwired relationship and bond between the parent and child, and that "this prioritization of biological inheritance ('biologism,' as some call it) has recently become unsettled." Writer Leo Kim said that due to the advancement in modern practices...
  • India’s Chandrayaan-3 makes successful landing on the moon

    08/23/2023 8:19:10 AM PDT · by NorthMountain · 56 replies
    Tech Crunchj ^ | 8:35 AM EDT•August 23, 2023 | Jagmeet Singh
    Chandrayaan-3, the latest iteration of India’s ambitious mission to the moon, has successfully landed on the lunar surface — making history after its predecessor failed in 2019. The landing, which took place at the targeted time of 5:34am PT (6:04pm IST) on Wednesday over a month after the spacecraft’s launch, has made India the fourth nation globally to make a soft landing on the moon, after the former Soviet Union, the U.S. and China, and the first country to land on the lunar south pole, which remains an unexplored area that is anticipated to aid in the understanding of the...
  • Chase away those Monday blues with some schadenfreude for Mark Zuckerberg: Zuck's two new ventures are flopping and costing his shareholders over $20 billion in just 18 months

    07/31/2023 6:34:52 AM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 14 replies
    American Thinker ^ | 07/31/2023 | Thomas Lifson
    Mark Zuckerberg’s hundreds of millions of tax-deductible “Zuckbucks” that boosted turnout in heavily Democrat areas in 2020 made him my enemy. I feel no shame at reveling in his mounting misfortunes in business, even as Meta, his rebranded name for Facebook, remains robustly profitable. Actually, that profitability, the result of Facebook and Google utterly dominating the online advertising business, and this depriving AT and every other conservative website of the ad dollars we need to stay alive (while keeping a lid on the viral distribution we need), is yet another reason to hate him, come to think of it. So,...
  • (Green Energy Fail) Testimony of Manu Asthana President and CEO, PJM Interconnection

    07/31/2023 5:21:11 AM PDT · by fruser1 · 5 replies
    PJM Interconnection ^ | 6/1/2023 | Staff
    The PJM fuel mix is balanced and diversified between different fuel types and we have adequate generation resources to serve the anticipated needs of our system today. However, as we look further out, maintaining an adequate level of generation resources will be essential for PJM’s ability to reliably serve electrical demand through the energy transition. Our recent analysis observed four trends that increase the risk that we may have difficulty maintaining such an adequate level of generation resources with the necessary attributes over time.1: The rate of electricity demand is likely to continue to increase from electrification and increasing deployment...