Free Republic

I very seldom post anything but this is important. I have been working in high tech for over 40 years and have branched out into network security as a hobby. This weekend me and my support team discovered by accident FB can monitor your non-phone conversations by accessing your smartphone microphone. We are also positive that they are sharing this information within the FB organization and highly likely selling the info to other parties. This affects FB, Instigram, WhatsApp and FB Marketplace so far that we know. The fix is you MUST disable microphone access on ALL of these apps...

The original link from last year http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3778339/posts The feeling is the fire was caused by too many dive lights being charged at the same time.

The "Squawk on the Street" news team discusses the breaking news that Intel CEO Brian Krzanich has resigned as a result of an internal probe on a consensual relationship. Intel has named Robert Swan as interim CEO.

http://chieforganizer.org/ "Is a Progressive Tea Party a Good Idea?" "Report from Behind the Bunker, that What We’re Doing is Working" Worth looking at from one of VJ's inner circle.

Legendary Intel executive Andy Grove, who transformed the company into a chip-making powerhouse and helped drive the personal computer boom, has died. He was 79. Although Grove wasn't technically a founding member of Intel (Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce were the company's two co-founders), he was present at the company's incorporation in 1968. He went on to become Intel's president in 1979, CEO in 1987 and chairman from 1997 to 2005.

This has not even hit the wires yet. Intel is offering VSP early retirement plans for close to 10K employees starting Feb 9. Employees are expected to be gone by April 1. Employees in India are exempt from VSP plan. Nearly 100% are USA employees: Major effected Areas: OR, CA, AZ, CO, MA

Just an excerpt: "Dear Rick (of your comment of 8/19 at (9:08 pm): Answers to two questions: (1) After 1988, with the resignation of the very competent Sue B., the accounting system quickly disintegrated. There were no computers. It had all been done by hand. Sue had trained a payroll clerk and bank reconciler, JoAnn B., who had learned to make payroll tax deposits, quarterly payroll tax reports, individual earnings records and annual W-2 forms and reports. But all cash and general journals and ledgers fell behind and contained thousands of uncorrected errors due to inability or failure to hire...

The Misinformation Campaign The leaders of Oakland-based SEIU United Healthcare Workers West have engineered a systematic, multi-faceted, misinformation campaign against the organizations that comprise the not-for-profit Sutter Health network of hospitals and doctors. Many of SEIU United Healthcare Workers West’s tactics are counter to the union’s purported role of representing caregivers at Sutter affiliates and go against the best interest of patient care.

The Service Employees’ internal battle broke wide open late Tuesday when International President Andy Stern put the dissident United Healthcare Workers-West into emergency trusteeship. Financial assets for the 150,000-member local were immediately seized, the executive board was dissolved, and full-time officers were removed from payroll. Reports circulated among workplace leaders that SEIU also dismissed UHW stewards, and that employers are holding captive-audience meetings to introduce new SEIU-appointed staff representatives.

One of our sources at the David Wu protest Monday found this. I suspect a direct connection between Pelosi's vineyard in Napa, WWV and Acorn.

In Rolling Stone Issue 1082-83, Matt Taibbi takes on "the Wall Street Bubble Mafia" --investment bank Goldman Sachs. The piece has generated controversy, with Goldman Sachs firing back that Taibbi's piece is "an hysterical compilation of conspiracy theories" and a spokesman adding, "We reject the assertion that we are inflators of bubbles and profiteers in busts, and we are painfully conscious of the importance in being a force for good. " Taibbi shot back: "Goldman has its alumni pushing its views from the pulpit of the U.S. Treasury, the NYSE, the World Bank, and numerous other important posts; it also...

Royal Dutch Shell has reportedly told its UK-based IT contractors they will be asked to quit if they fail to accept a 12 per cent pay cut. According to Contractor UK, the multinational company wrote to its IT contractors last month, informing them of its plan to slash rates as part of a cost-cutting exercise. It warned IT contractors who were unwilling to accept the cut that their job role at Shell could be axed. ----- at the bottom of the article. By April 2008, Shell had set adrift most of its IT staff after it inked three outsourcing deals...

WASHINGTON — U.S. engineering unemployment soared to a record in the second quarter of 2009, nearly doubling on a quarterly basis to 8.6 percent, the IEEE-USA said Tuesday (July 7), citing government figures. The previous quarterly record for joblessness among U.S. electrical and electronic engineers was 7 percent, reached in October 2003. EE unemployment previously peaked in 2003. (Source: Ron Hira)

Trofimov, a Wall Street Journal writer and observer of the Muslim world (Faith at War), tackles an incident unreported in the West: the violent takeover of Islam's holiest shrine by Muslim fundamentalists in 1979. Carrying out his investigations in one of the world's most closed societies, Trofimov has crafted a compelling historical narrative, blending messianic theology with righteous violence, and the Saudi state's sclerotic corruption with the complicity of the official religious institutions. Trofimov aptly points out endemic regional problems with enduring repercussions for fighting terror, but is hampered by his sensationalist style (The world was twelve months away from...

If love 427 Cobras and GT40s, join me in Columbus, OH this weekend. This is going to be the largest collection of real and replica cobras ever. (Currently 282 Cobras and 6 GT40s registered) Ride and Shoot Program This how Double Venom Spring Fling plans to raise $100,000 for Team Jenny and Cystic Fibrosis. This is strictly voluntary for those who want to participate! Our goal is to fulfill the dreams of Cobra lovers everywhere by allowing them to get a picture and/or take a ride in a Cobra of their choice. Those willing to participate in the photo opportunity...

Got this from a friend. A great parody and very well done! Its the fourth song listed. MP3 format, 1.9M size. ("Daylight come and we drop'a da bomb")

SAN FRANCISCO -- Owners of illegal assault weapons can be sent to state prison even if they claim they did not know their guns had been banned, the California Supreme Court decided Monday. Defense attorneys had argued that defendants should not be convicted unless prosecutors could prove the owners knew the weapons had been outlawed. Prosecutors insisted such knowledge was irrelevant. In a 5-2 ruling, the court said defendants can be sentenced to three years in state prison for possession of an illegal assault weapon if they ``reasonably should have known'' that the weapons possessed the characteristics of those outlawed ...

Freepers, Myself and others were at a Northern California gun range yesterday "National Shooting Club" when a BATF agent showed up to do a informal search. When asked if he was armed, he said "yes" and then flashed his ID and then proceeded to take a detailed assessment of NSC's inventory. I kind of floated around following him noticing what he was interested in. Primary interest was anything semi-auto, a trigger kit for a H&K PSG-1, AR-15 uppers and for the most part, anything painted black. Everything he looked at was completely legal under today's laws but it was spooky ...