Free Republic

Attorney General Rob Bonta announced this week that 3 new states would be added to California’s state travel ban list due to recent laws restricting transgender students from participating in school athletics that are not part of their original gender: Missouri, Nebraska, and Wyoming.

BEACONSFIELD, ENGLAND—According to sources, there's a fence standing in the middle of a local field, with no apparent reason for being there. Local progressives are suggesting it be torn down immediately. "I don't want the fence to be here, so we should just tear it down immediately," said Hercule Flambeau, a progressive activist. "As a liberated, autonomous human being, why would I allow a fence to just be in my way like that? Fences restrict people. They restrain our freedom. That's just wrong." Expert sociologists have also confirmed the fence was built a long time ago by a straight white...

Leading airline and business groups are asking the Biden administration to develop temporary credentials that would let travelers show they have been tested and vaccinated for COVID-19, a step that the airline industry believes will help revive travel. Various groups and countries are working on developing so-called vaccine passports aimed at allowing more travel. But airlines fear that a smattering of regional credentials will cause confusion and none will be widely accepted. “It is crucial to establish uniform guidance” and “the U.S. must be a leader in this development,” more than two dozen groups said in a letter Monday to...

A report commissioned by the UK government's official environmental advisers is calling to ban frequent flyer reward schemes to discourage people from traveling by air. **SNIP** The report has also proposed an "air miles levy" to target frequent flyers while protecting those who don't travel as much or travel shorter distances. By placing the levies on frequent flyers, rather than a flat fuel tax, those who don't fly as often would in theory not be disproportionately affected. "Aviation has so far enjoyed generous tax treatment despite a large proportion of flights being taken by a small, wealthy segment of the...

Did the Roman Empire help to spread Christianity, and if so, in what ways? Pax Romana During the times of Christ and the Apostles, the Roman Empire was the dominant world power and they subjugated all nations which they conquered, but they also allowed them certain freedoms, like the freedom to worship in their own way. The mighty empire brought a domineering power to the world, but it also brought a peace that the world had not known for some time. It was called “Pax Romana,” which is Latin for Roman Peace and so the Romans brought a state of...

The number of flights being taken by the average person is increasing dramatically and the arrival of LCCs mean flying is more affordable for more people. Between 2005 and 2018 global passenger numbers more than doubled from around two billion to four billion and forecasts suggest that it could double again over the next 20 years. Is this growth manageable? One Norwegian politician believes that a cap should be placed on travellers, a seemingly impractical suggestion, but one that is sure to have support. Summary: As global air travel demand continues to rise, one Norwegian politician recommends a cap of...

No more petrol or diesel cars, buses, or trucks will be sold anywhere in the world within eight years. The entire market for land transport will switch to electrification, leading to a collapse of oil prices and the demise of the petroleum industry as we have known it for a century. This is the futuristic forecast by Stanford University economist Tony Seba. His report, with the deceptively bland title Rethinking Transportation 2020-2030, has gone viral in green circles and is causing spasms of anxiety in the established industries. Seba’s premise is that people will stop driving altogether. They will switch...

Under a new enforcement provision passed into law earlier this month, the Internal Revenue Service can revoke passports of serious tax offenders who owe more than $50,000 to the government. And Uncle Sam can take away your passport at any time, even when the offender is traveling outside the country. [...] The new passport-revoking provision allows the Department of the Treasury and the IRS to authorize the State Department to take away U.S. passports from individuals with seriously delinquent debts, which the government defines as greater than $50,000, the Arizona Republic reported. ...

Refugees heading to Greece on people smugglers' boats are given a 'migrants handbook' packed with tips, maps, phone numbers and advice about getting across Europe. Among discarded life jackets and punctured rubber dinghies, Sky News discovered a tattered copy of the unique travel guide washed up on a beach on the Greek island of Lesbos. The booklet's cover features a photograph of a young man on a beach at sunset, looking longingly out to sea, with oars at his feet as he prepares to make the treacherous crossing. The 'rough guide' is written in Arabic and contains phone numbers of...

Federal Police announced on Wednesday that they had arrested record numbers of people entering Germany illegally in 2014, a 75 percent increase on the year before. Federal police chief Dieter Romann told journalists in Potsdam that his officers had stopped 57,000 people without permission to be in the country. Of these, 27,000 were detained in Germany, while a further 30,000 were stopped before they reached the Federal Republic. Most of those people came over the borders from Austria and France. …