Free Republic

We don’t have to decide between freedom and technology. Innovations in artificial intelligence are creating personalized cancer treatments, improving search and rescue disaster response, making our roadways safer with automated vehicles, and have the potential for so much more.But with growing concerns about data privacy, big tech companies, and the rise of technology-enabled authoritarianism in China and elsewhere, more people are starting to wonder: Must we decide between embracing this emerging technology and following our moral compass?That’s a false choice. We can advance emerging technology in a way that reflects our values of freedom, human rights and respect for human...

I predict that 20% of colleges and universities will shut down or merge in the next 10 years, and probably more. It was a good run. Most people fail to understand that higher education is in itself countercyclical. When the economy is bad, and people lose jobs, many of them will go back to school. You have probably heard about the for-profit education boom and bust. That is old news. You might not have heard that total enrollment has been declining for the last eight years as the economy has improved. What comes next will pulverize nearly every institution of...

House Democrats outlined their vision for sweeping climate legislation Wednesday, offering a first look at a bill that would push the U.S. to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Wednesday’s white paper provides the framework that lawmakers in July promised to deliver by early 2020 – a broad climate bill targeting every major sector of the economy. “We’re treating this climate crisis like the emergency that it is,” House Energy and Commerce Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said of the so-called CLEAN Future Act. The measure includes a requirement that utilities work toward 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2050, a mandate...

CNN International anchor Christiane Amanpour spoke with Iranian vice president for women and global affairs Massoumeh Ebtekar on Tuesday but failed to mention Ebtekar played a key role in the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. Amanpour began by asking Ebtekar if Iran would “respond” to American calls for de-escalation, and critics didn't appreciate her lengthy answer. “Ebtekar took that question and offered a long-winded answer that gushed over CNN showing ‘millions who are marching in support and in commemoration of...the Commander of the Hearts’ against the Americans having ‘taken a terrorist action’ in ‘assassinat[ing]’ Soleimani,” NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck wrote....

Reports of new rocket fire surfaced late on Wednesday afternoon, landing in Iraq’s Green Zone, home to the US Embassy and other foreign missions, just hours after US President Donald Trump announced that Iran was standing down after a series of escalations in the region.

Governor announces the creation of new California Access to Housing and Services Fund in executive order, previews his 2020-21 Governor’s Budget with more than $1 billion to fight homelessness, including $750 million for this new Fund, and a major new investment to reform Medi-Cal so that health providers transform health care to deliver integrated physical and behavioral health Executive order requires state agencies to take urgent and immediate action by January 31, 2020 to make available state properties and facilities to rapidly increase housing and shelter options Immediately makes available a supply of 100 camp trailers that can be used...

RUSH: Democrats are starting to get nervous, starting to get a little angry, a little antsy out there at Nancy Pelosi. Laura Litvan, who is a Senate reporter for Doomberg News, tweeted (this was about an hour and a half ago), “Dianne Feinstein says it’s time for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to send the impeachment articles to the Senate. ‘If we’re going to do it, she should send them over,’ said. ‘I don’t see what good delay does.'” And you see where the Turtle said that he’s gonna go ahead and do this trial and not call any witnesses. He doesn’t...

Fox News had an even stronger presence than usual in the cable ratings Tuesday night. The network captured the top two spots in the Tuesday cable chart, with its 9 p.m. “Hannity” and its 8 p.m. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” both scoring 0.8 ratings in the adults 18-49 demo. The History Channel’s “Curse of Oak Island” rounded out the night’s top 3 with the same 0.6 rating that its last episode scored on Dec. 17.

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is appearing to be having technical difficulties as he acknowledged Wednesday on Twitter that his IP address had been "compromised" and used to "download child pornography." "Well, I’m on the phone with my computer security service, and as I understand it someone compromised my IP address and is using it to download child pornography," Krugman wrote in the tweet. "I might just be a random target. But this could be an attempt to Qanon me. It’s an ugly world out there." Qanon is a reference to the group of conspiracy theorists who in recent...

From our "People do the stupidest things" file, a story out of Mississippi demonstrates the unlimited capacity of human beings to surprise and amaze us. In this case, our amazement is directed at the incredible stupidity of which people are capable. Two men walked into the Mississippi Lottery Corporation claim center and presented a scratch ticket that they said was worth $100,000. It must have looked pretty fishy because lottery employees immediately called the police. Incredibly, the two men tried to pass off a losing lottery ticket by gluing the winning numbers on to the ticket.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has declared she is “cancer free,” beating the disease for the fourth time after undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer in the summer. The 86-year-old justice, one of the oldest to serve on the Supreme Court, offered the health update to CNN in an interview in her chambers Tuesday evening. “I’m cancer free. That’s good,” Ginsburg said, with CNN reporting that she was “sounding energized and speaking animatedly.”

In an interview with TV Republika on Christmas Eve, controversial Archbishop of Krakow Marek Jedraszewski launched an extraordinary spray at the “very dangerous phenomenon” of “ecologism”. He said that “phenomenon” is “contrary to everything that is written in the Bible” – which instructs humankind to “subdue the earth” for its own needs – and signals a “return to Engels”. But Jedraszewski saved some of his harshest criticisms for young anti-climate change campaigner Thunberg, whom the archbishop said “is becoming an oracle for all political and social forces” trying to “break with the entire Christian tradition”. The Krakow archbishop dismissed “teenage...

THE PRESIDENT: As long as I am President of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Good morning. I’m pleased to inform you: The American people should be extremely grateful and happy no Americans were harmed in last night’s attack by the Iranian regime. We suffered no casualties, all of our soldiers are safe, and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases.

The House will vote Thursday on a resolution to limit President Trump's ability to take future military action against Iran without congressional authorization, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Wednesday afternoon. Pelosi's statement came after a classified lawmaker briefing from top administration officials following attacks by Iran the night before on two bases in Iraq that house U.S. troops. The resolution directs the president to end the use of U.S. armed forces to engage in hostilities in or against Iran unless Congress has formally authorized it or if there is an "imminent armed attack upon the United States." It was introduced...

After President Trump declared that Iran “appears to be standing down” in the wake of Tuesday's missile strikes on Iraqi airbases, Fox News senior strategic analyst Gen. Jack Keane said that Trump had executed a diplomatic strategy that could enable the U.S. to negotiate with Iran without further military action. “It changed from the strategy of appeasement under the Obama administration to confrontation using economic pressure to do that,” Keane told “The Daily Briefing” Wednesday. “The American people should be extremely grateful and happy,” Trump said in an address to the nation from the White House the morning after the...

Kanye West marked one year of hosting Sunday Service on Skid Row in Los Angeles. The "Jesus Is King" artist chose downtown LA's Union Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter that offers foot and spiritual guidance to those in need, to host the special service and share a short message saying he wants to end homelessness around the world. “A lot of times people say, ‘Thank you Ye for Sunday Service.’ I’m saying thank God. This thing saved my life,” West said while singing "Closed On Sunday," a song referencing Chick-fil-A and family values. “This thing was an alternative to opioids....

JOHANNESBURG - Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and veteran of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle, joined former U.S. vice president Al Gore on Tuesday to call on nations and companies to ditch fossil fuels to head off climate change. Tutu, who is 88 and has been in hospital over the past few years owing to ill health, met Gore in Cape Town on Tuesday. “Any organisation committed to operating responsibly in this new decade has a moral imperative to stop participating in financing the destruction of human civilization’s future,” the pair said in a statement. “Corporations, governments and...

The Eastern Orthodox Church is breaking apart. The Russian Orthodox Church cut ties with the patriarch of Alexandria on December 26, following his decision to recognize an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This schism follows the Russian church’s decision to cut ties with the archbishop of Athens and the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople. Both leaders also recognized the new Ukrainian church. There are 14 universally recognized Orthodox churches, plus the Orthodox Church of America and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (which are not universally recognized). The Russian Orthodox Church holds jurisdiction in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet nations. Therefore, Patriarch...

The death rate from cancer in the US declined by 29% from 1991 to 2017, including a 2.2% drop from 2016 to 2017, the largest single-year drop ever recorded, according to annual statistics reporting from the American Cancer Society. The decline in deaths from lung cancer drove the record drop. Deaths fell from about 3% per year from 2008 - 2013 to 5% from 2013 - 2017 in men and from 2% to almost 4% in women. However, lung cancer is still the leading cause of cancer death. (snip)

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke on Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky following the cancellation of the secretary’s planned trip to the region over the spiraling situation in the Middle East. The State Department on Monday said Pompeo discussed the situation in the Middle East with Zelensky and thanked the Ukrainian president for condemning the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Pompeo also reiterated the strong U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and underscored the long-term strategic partnership between the two countries. Pompeo was set to travel to Ukraine on Jan. 3, at a time when...