Quote:In very specific terms a lot of U.S. websites would be impacted.  Why?  Because a lot of websites use third-party ‘plug-ins’ or ‘widgets’ or software created in foreign countries to support the content on their site.  The “Restrict Act” gives the DNI the ability to tell a website using any “foreign content” or software; that might be engaged in platform communication the U.S Government views as against their interests; to shut down or face a criminal charge.  In very direct terms, the passage of SB686 would give the Dept of Commerce, DNI and DHS the ability to shut down what you are reading right now. This is a big deal. -The Last Refuge

Quote:The language describing who the RESTRICT ACT applies to is confusing at best. The commerce secretary would be authorized to take steps to address risks posed by "any covered transaction by any person," right? So what counts as a covered transaction? The bill states that this means "a transaction in which an entity described in subparagraph (B) has any interest." Entities described in subparagraph B are a "foreign adversary; an entity subject to the jurisdiction of, or organized under the laws of, a foreign adversary; and an entity owned, directed, or controlled by" either of these. Foreign adversaries can be "any foreign government or regime" that the secretary deems a national security threat.

It's a bit gobbledygooked, but this could be read to imply that "any person" using a VPN to access an app controlled by a "foreign adversary" or its alleged minions is subject to the secretary's ire. Hence anyone using a VPN to access TikTok would be in trouble—specifically, subject to up to $1 million in fines, 20 years in prison, or both.

Vatican goes dark for Earth Hour, symbolizing membership in ‘church of environmentalism’
Where the Gospel says, 'let your light shine before men,' the post-conciliar church responds, 'only if doesn’t harm the environment.'



Pope Francis
Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Image

Quote:Carlson recalls that the American Constitution prohibits any state religion, but for some time the governing Democratic Party has imposed on the American people the globalist cult, with its green agenda, its woke dogmas, its condemnations and cancel culture, its priests of the World Health Organization, and its prophets of the World Economic Forum.

A religion in all respects, all-encompassing not only for the life of the individuals who practice it, but also in the life of the nation that publicly confesses it, adapts laws and sentences to it, and inspires education and every governmental action around it.

For those following the emergence of ChatGPT and Microsoft's new AI...

Microsoft's Bing AI has started threatening users who provoke it


Featured Image Credit: 20th Century Studios/Skorzewiak / Alamy Stock Photo

It's clear you should be careful what you say to Microsoft's Bing AI chatbot. Credit: Microsoft

To be fair to AI bot, the student did threatened it first. Credit: Twitter/@marvinvonhagen

Sydney wasn't 'pleased' with the student exposing its codename. Credit: Twitter/@marvinvonhagen

UN Issues Rare Condemnation As Zelensky Moves To Evict More Monks, Seize Churches




Holy Dormition Kyivo-Pechersk Lavra, otherwise known as the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves in Kyiv, Ukraine soc.org.au

Quote:The courtyards of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra have been busy with more than just the usual worshippers, going to and from its churches in the sprawling monastic complex that is Ukraine’s most revered Orthodox site.

Also busy Friday were people in civilian clothes, loading cars with plasma televisions, furniture and other items from the buildings — helping the resident monks remove belongings of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, or UOC, before a threatened government eviction on March 29.

There also were police officers checking the cars to make sure no one was removing items that belong to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra preserve, which oversees the complex.

Quote:"In a recent report on human rights in Ukraine, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights [OHCHR – ed.] noted that searches in the buildings of the UOC MP could be of a ‘discriminatory nature.’

Ukraine is a democratic state, in which freedom of religion is guaranteed. At the same time, freedom is not the same as the right to be engaged in activities that undermine national security.

We call on OHCHR to refrain from unbalanced political assessments and base its reports on facts."

The Angelus - September 1979

The Angelus - September 1979

Quote:The Federal Reserve Board announced that the Federal Reserve Banks will develop a new round-the-clock real-time payment and settlement service, called the FedNow Service, to support faster payments in the United States.

This is a direct response to the threat posed by digital currencies and blockchain. According to one Fed official, "Last summer, the U.S. Treasury recommended that 'the Federal Reserve move quickly to facilitate a faster retail payments system, such as through the development of a real-time settlement service, that would also allow for more efficient and ubiquitous access to innovative payment capabilities."' We believe this effort requires a proof-of-authority quantum computing based blockchain system.

As we noted in our paper "Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and the Future of Monetary Policy," confidential, not-for-distribution research sent to select members of the House Financial Services Committee, it is critical to understand that bitcoin was created in direct response to the failure of global regulators to protect the public in the years leading up to the financial crisis of 2007/2008. Thus, the ethical and monetary functionality of cryptocurrency is superior to that of paper money. Eventually, cryptocurrency is going to dominate.

As also noted in our paper, "The main economic attributes of a technically effective currency rests on three functions: as a unit of account, a store of value and as a medium of exchange."

But there is a fourth function of money: as a means of social control. The centralized monopoly over the functions of money held by sovereign governments and central banks has generated great income and wealth imbalances. Concerns about a lack of central bank performance with respect to financial inclusion, income inequality, economic system stability and the tendency of central banks to intermediate on behalf of large financial institutions supported the creation of cryptocurrency"

As we noted in a second paper "Is FedCoin Feasible?" another confidential, not-for-distribution research paper sent to select members of the House Financial Services Committee, we suggest the Board focus on using an enhanced Bitcoin blockchain to "support depository institutions' provision of end-to-end faster payment services and would provide infrastructure to promote ubiquitous, safe, and efficient faster payments in the United States."