Free Republic

[…]Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), tie the financial freedom of citizens to the government and the banking establishment. The central bank issues its centralized digital currencies, and essentially creates a new monetary system, "fiat on steroids", a system that takes everything that is bad in the fiat system, and adds more of it; surveillance, control, censorship, and enforcement capabilities. A modern prison? Indeed, the CBDC is the ultimate prototype of a prison without physical chains. By connecting CBDCs to digital identity cards, and to government systems such as universal basic income, social credits and more, we get the ultimate control...

Global bank messaging network SWIFT is planning a new platform in the next one to two years to connect the wave of central bank digital currencies now in development to the existing finance system.. The move, which would be one of the most significant yet for the nascent CBDC ecosystem given SWIFT's key role in global banking, is likely to be fine-tuned to when the first major ones are launched. 90% of the world's central banks are now exploring digital versions of their currencies. Most don't want to be left behind by bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but are grappling with...

Australians made $746 million in digital payments in 2018—that number soared to $93 billion in 2022.. A new all-in-one mobile app will offer what its developers claim is Australia’s first end-to-end digital banking platform for the country’s 2.4 million businesses with fewer than 10 employees. The announcement comes a day after Bankwest announced that it is closing 45 of its branches and transitioning the remaining 15 to Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) branches, going digital-only by October 2024. Bankwest is a subsidiary of the Commonwealth Bank, which trades on the Australian Stock Exchange. ... The new app, called Business+, was...

The words leaped off the page. As I read Habakkuk 1:2-4, I thought about the United States. The prophet’s complaint about the violence, iniquity, and injustice in ancient Judah matched everything that I saw all around me. How much longer could it be before God’s judgment falls on America? That was over twenty-five years ago. What grabbed my attention back then is tame compared to now. Wickedness, lawlessness, violence, and injustice have increased exponentially in America since then. Abortion and child trafficking hang over our nation like a thick black cloud of hazardous, deadly chemicals. Corruption defines the U.S. government....

Satisfied with IAM systems after a six-team trial last season, the U.S. National Football League appears ready to go league-wide with biometric ID verification. The pilot came at the end of 3.5 years of digital IAM testing by the NFL. No sports leagues like to lose money when people get unpaid-for stadium access, but NFL owners are particularly upset by it compared to others. League owners are expected to set up a centralized facial recognition IAM service based on its Express Access authentication platform in the 2024 season. That would be for all 30 stadiums for the 32 teams, beginning...

In a bold move that is raising eyebrows and concerns, the Liberal government of Canada has unveiled its plan to combat what it deems “online hate.” At the center of this initiative is the proposed Online Harms Act, also known as Bill C-63, and it’s stirring up quite the controversy. The bill, detailed in a technical briefing released to reporters, outlines hefty fines for online speech and stringent punishments, including the possibility of life imprisonment for hate crimes. The aim is clear: curbing the spread of harmful content, including materials that incite violence, promote terrorism, or fuel hatred.

Presidential hopeful and Trump challenger Nikki Haley is reportedly launching a seven-figure national cable and digital ad buy leading up to Super Tuesday, Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney told reporters ahead of South Carolina’s primary results. While poll after poll shows Haley down by double digits in her home state of South Carolina, she has made it abundantly clear she plans to remain in the race regardless of the results on Saturday. “South Carolina will vote on Saturday, but on Sunday, I’ll still be running for president,” Haley told supporters during a speech in Greenville this week, making it clear...

I've collected more ATSC 3.0 over the air television news. Unfortunately it's not great news: I learned that all ATSC 3 tuners will have certificates that will expire after a certain length of time and there's been very little progress towards getting gateway devices to work.00:00 - Intro00:59 - DRM Petition Update02:23 - Tuner Expiration Dates04:13 - All ATSC 3 Devices "Phone Home" For Decryption04:48 - Zero Progress on Gateway Devices05:44 - ATSC 3 statement10:08 - Broadcaster Moving 4k to Streaming Only11:07 - Could Cable Access Channels Use Unwanted Spectrum?13:58 - ConclusionAll ATSC 3 TV Tuners will EXPIRE & More...

We live in an environment of complete and utter lawlessness. When predators boldly roam the streets without fear but good people are literally afraid to leave their own homes, that is clearly a sign that our societal collapse has reached a very advanced stage. Even in the rare instances when they are actually caught and convicted, our system will still often allow violent criminals to go free. For example, a woman in California that was convicted of stabbing her boyfriend more than 100 times was given a sentence that didn’t include even a single day in prison… The family of...

“In a closed society where everybody’s guilty, the only crime is getting caught.”- Hunter S. ThompsonAccording to the FBI, you may be an anti-government extremist if you’ve:a) purchased a Bible or other religious materials,b) used terms like “MAGA” and “Trump,”c) shopped at Dick’s Sporting Goods, Cabela’s, or Bass Pro Shops,d) purchased tickets to travel by bus, cars, or plane,e) all of the above.In fact, if you selected any of those options in recent years, you’re probably already on a government watchlist.That’s how broadly the government’s net is being cast in its pursuit of domestic extremists.We’re all fair game now, easy...

@TheInsiderPaper WATCH: Trump says he will never allow creation of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

One of the things I keep pointing out about the transnational elite is that, for the most part, they aren’t hiding who they are and what they want. It’s not some deep, dark conspiracy. They are proud of what they are doing. You can go to the websites of major corporations, universities, our federal government, or most conveniently the World Economic Forum and see what kind of dystopia they have planned for you. Basically, it boils down to this: let your betters run your lives, and by the way, we are your betters. If you find it surprising that people...

A digital public infrastructure (DPI) would give governments the power to implement systems of social credit that can determine how you travel, what you can consume, and how you will be able to transact with your programmable money. ... The United Nations, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and partners of the Rockefeller Foundation are launching their “50-in-5” campaign to accelerate digital ID, digital payments, and data sharing rollouts in 50 countries under the umbrella of digital public infrastructure (DPI) by 2028. ... With a virtual launch event on November 8, the 50-in-5 agenda billed itself as “a country-led advocacy...

On November 8th 2023, a virtual launch event took place for what was termed the “50-in-5” agenda. The United Nations, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and partners of the Rockefeller Foundation are launching a campaign to accelerate digital ID, digital payments, and data-sharing rollouts in 50 countries under the umbrella of digital public infrastructure (DPI) by 2028. (source). The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has announced plans to roll out “digital IDs” worldwide by the year 2030, and they will be mandatory for people who wish to participate in society, say Reclaim the Net, who advocate for free speech...

Central bank digital currencies can push the world away from depending on the U.S. dollar, the organization said. . The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a handbook for global central banks regarding the development and implementation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The IMF’s “Central Bank Digital Currency Virtual Handbook” published last week pointed out that the increased use of CBDCs can “reduce dollarization” of the global economy—a situation where countries move away from relying on the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency. De-dollarization would push up borrowing costs in the United States, making loans expensive for businesses and individuals,...

A data scientist named Tony Seruga said that his team tracked January 6 “ghost buses” and found instigators coming from Department of Justice vans. These claims add more context to recent allegations that January 6 was strategized in advance on Antifa discord servers, and they should alarm every freedom-loving American. Congressman Clay Higgins of Louisiana called attention to alleged ghost buses when he was grilling FBI director Christopher Wray. Christopher Wray, seemingly terrified, chose his words carefully to try to discredit Higgins, but since their exchange more information has come to light. CLICK ABOVE ARTICLE LINK FOR THE VIDEO...

Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Brendan Carr is calling the Biden administration's "digital equity" plan for all internet services and infrastructure an "unlawful power grab." Biden’s plan hands the Administrative State effective control of all Internet services and infrastructure in the country. Never before, in the roughly 40-year history of the public Internet, has the FCC (or any federal agency for that matter) claimed this degree of control over it. Indeed, Biden’s plan calls for the FCC to apply a far-reaching set of government controls that the agency has not applied to any technology in the modern era, including Title II...

(Kitco News) - HSBC Holdings Plc, one of the world’s top bullion banks, has announced the launch of a platform that utilizes distributed ledger technology (DLT) to tokenize the ownership of gold held in its London vault as it looks to help usher in the digital age for the London gold market.According to a report from Bloomberg, the new system creates digital tokens representing gold bars, which can then be traded through the bank’s single-dealer platform. This approach “generates a permissioned digital representation of clients’ physical gold holdings,” said Mark Williamson, global head of FX and commodities partnerships and proposition...

The Group of 20 leaders have agreed to a plan to eventually impose digital currencies and digital IDs on their respective populations, despite fears that governments will use them to monitor their peoples' spending and crush dissent. The G20, which is currently under India’s presidency, adopted a final declaration on the subject over the weekend in New Delhi. The meeting, which included the world’s leading economies, announced last week that they had agreed to build the necessary infrastructure to implement digital currencies and IDs.

Square, a company that supplies point of sale (POS) systems to small businesses that allow for credit card processing, has been down all day Thursday, affecting users in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, France, and Spain. Square is one of the largest suppliers of POS systems to all kinds of businesses, like restaurants, salons, tattoo parlors, boutiques, and much more. According to the website, Square is “Trusted by millions of businesses worldwide.”Without the ability to process credit cards, many businesses have reported turning away customers who don’t have cash—or taking an enormous risk and writing down credit card...