Free Republic

SNIPWhile the number of votes swayed by the leaked audio remains uncertain, two things are now abundantly clear: The recordings were fake, created using artificial intelligence; and US officials see the episode in Europe as a frightening harbinger of the sort of interference the United States will likely experience during the 2024 presidential election.“As a nation, we are woefully underprepared,” said V.S. Subrahmanian, a Northwestern University professor who focuses on the intersection of AI and security.Senior national security officials in the US have been gearing up for “deepfakes” to inject confusion among voters in a way not previously seen, a...

Beth Palmer was 17 and dreaming of becoming a singer in March 2020 when the United Kingdom went into lockdown because of the coronavirus. One month later, she was dead. "She was a wonderful, wonderful daughter. She was just funny, she lit up the room.," said Mike Palmer, Beth’s father. "She was so affectionate and loving as well. She basically had the world at her feet. She had everything, everything to live for.” Palmer didn’t die of the coronavirus. She took her own life. An aspiring singer and vocal student at the Access Creative College in Manchester, Palmer crumbled in...

The race for a U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey is a statistical dead heat, with incumbent Democrat Bob Menendez leading Republican challenger Bob Hugin by two percentage points, according to a Stockton University poll released today. Menendez leads with 45 percent to Hugin’s 43 percent five weeks before the Nov. 6 election, according to poll numbers of likely voters who say they lean toward one candidate or the other. Libertarian Murray Sabrin pulls 3 percent, while other candidates and undecided voters total 8 percent. Menendez, who was reprimanded by a Senate ethics panel after corruption charges were dismissed following...

Ben Shapiro's take on Justin Trudeau. Worthy humor!

Reports that a man accused of sexual assaults on six Edmonton teenage girls was a Syrian refugee have ignited a firestorm of reaction, from anti-immigration diatribes to criticism about how the media dealt with the story. Groups that work with refugees in the city have been inundated with calls and texts over the past 24 hours, some from people calling for an end to the refugee program and others from refugees themselves apologizing on behalf of their community. Erick Ambtman, executive director of the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers, said his organization received a message on Twitter from a white...

DEVELOPING: NEW CASTLE, Del. -- Police on Friday afternoon came to the home of a 17-year-old high school junior to ask her about direct online communications she has had with Rep. Anthony Weiner. Two officers from the New Castle County Police Department arrived at the girl's home around 4:30 p.m. and asked to speak with the girl's mother about the daughter's contact with Weiner. Another officer appeared at the home a short time later. A FoxNews.com reporter was at the home when the police arrived. The girl, whose name is being withheld because she is a minor, told FoxNews.com, "I'm...

GIRLS are starting puberty earlier and as a result are more likely to become aggressive teenagers, Queensland researchers have found. The study found that at 14, girls were also just as likely as boys to be involved in fights, threats and stealing – reinforcing the perception that young women are behaving more like their male friends. University of Queensland sociologist Jake Najman, lead author of the research, said children were experiencing puberty at earlier ages because of increasing rates of obesity. He said while early puberty for girls was related to an increased risk of aggression in adolescence, the same...

MOST teenage girls love to talk to their friends. And talk. And talk. ... But recently female friendship and girl talk, particularly among adolescents, has drawn growing interest from psychologists and researchers examining the question of how much talking is too much talking. Some studies have found that excessive talking about problems can contribute to emotional difficulties, including anxiety and depression. The term researchers use is “co-rumination” to describe frequently or obsessively discussing the same problem. The behavior is typical among teens — Why didn’t he call? Should I break up with him? And, psychologists say, it has intensified significantly...

Jeannette Eyerly, one of the first writers for young adults to deal with themes like unwanted pregnancy, alcoholism and drugs, died on Aug. 18 at her home in Des Moines. She was 100. The death was confirmed by her grandson Josh Pichler. In books like “Drop-Out,” “A Girl Like Me” and “Escape From Nowhere,” Mrs. Eyerly moved beyond the pretty-in-pink world of dates and sock hops to focus on more serious problems confronting young girls. In addition to facing the usual troubles with school and boyfriends, her heroines dealt with their parents’ failing marriages, or with peer pressure to take...

The Sunday Times September 18, 2005 Mummy, I want to be a porn star Pornography is becoming so acceptable in Britain that even teenage girls see it as a career, writes Kira Cochrane ‘Imagine if Starbucks offered a shot of alcohol with your morning coffee. Then there was beer in the office and at lunchtime we all automatically ordered a bottle of wine rather than sparkling water. If alcohol were that available we’d all start drinking more and any stigma would gradually disappear. And that’s how things are developing with porn.” So says Pamela Paul, the American author of Pornified:...