Free Republic

Sorry about not putting up an image last week -- circumstances intervened. But I had already come up with this idea, and I think it's appropriate for a holiday (at least in the U.S.) week where there are a lot of travelers. Also, this is a user participation thread. I invite readers to find other examples and post them here. If you've never done that before, if you find an image, you can (in Windows) click on it and get an option to "Copy Image Location". If you do that, then in a response you use HTML code: img src="image...

SNIPPET: "Search at Grundy County plant called part of ongoing probe" SNIPPET: "But a source said the owner of the plant, which processes lamb and goat, was taken into custody at his home in Chicago. Documents and records were taken from the plant and from a Chicago travel agency on West Devon Avenue, also owned by the same person, the source said."

<p>An explosion rocked the compound of a four-star hotel just off a main boulevard in Pakistan's garrison city of Rawalpindi on Monday and there were reports of casualties, police said. "According to initial reports the blast took place in the compound of the hotel. Our teams are there, they are updating us on the details," police officer Mohammed Akhlaq told AFP by telephone.</p>

Illegal Immigrants To Be Held In Former Hotels Nursing homes would also be used as Napolitano aims to reform detention Oct . 6, 2009 WASHINGTON - Illegal immigrants awaiting deportation would be confined according to the risk they may pose under a new plan being proposed by the homeland security secretary. Former hotels, nursing homes and other sites would be used to hold nonviolent, non-criminal immigrants as part of a larger plan to reform immigration detention, according to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press. The alternative sites are intended to cut the costs of detaining immigrants, which reached nearly...

Hotel Bel-Air Closes For Renovations, Laying Off 250 Union Workers The hotel has refused to commit to rehiring the employees, many of whom are immigrants, when work is done in 2011. Many are worried about losing affordable health coverage. By Hugo Martín and Patrick McDonnell October 1, 2009 The Hotel Bel-Air closed quietly Wednesday, shutting for two years of renovations without agreeing to a severance package with its unionized employees. The resort -- for more than 60 years a retreat for presidents, movie stars and others -- has refused to commit to rehire 250 union employees after its multimillion-dollar face-lift...

Stadiums, Hotels Put On Alert Amid Terror Probe Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009 in New York. Associated Press Writers Tom Hays And Devlin BarrettNEW YORK – The government expanded a terrorism warning from transit systems to U.S. stadiums, hotels and entertainment complexes as investigators searched for more suspects Tuesday in a possible al-Qaida plot to set off hydrogen-peroxide bombs hidden in backpacks. Police bolstered their presence at high-profile locations. Extra officers with bulletproof vests, rifles and dogs were assigned to spots such as Grand Central Terminal in New York. Plainclothes officers handed out fliers at a nearby hotel with a warning...

26 August 2009 INDONESIAN BOMBING SUSPECT A JIHAD MAGAZINE PUBLISHER AND WEBMASTER As of today he's in the custody of Detachment 88. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. First the news reports: • Preacher's son arrested: Mohammad Jibril runs his father's company, Ar-rahmah Media, which publishes religious books and JihadMagz, a glossy 148-page magazine devoted to Islamic fighters and wars across the world. He also set up the militant website, arrahmah.com, which posts news in Bahasa Indonesia and English on the Islamic struggle to preserve and spread their religion.

SNIPPET: "Indonesian police confirmed that DNA tests proved that wanted terrorist Noordin Mohammed Top was not killed during last week's raid on a farmhouse in Java in Indonesia." SNIPPET: "DNA tests confirmed that the body of the person killed was that of another wanted terrorist named Amir Ibrohim. Ibrohim, who is also known as Amir Abdullah, worked as a contractor for the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels and is said to have aided in the July 17 attacks. He was reportedly seen on tape escorting one of the suicide bombers during the July 17 attacks. Ibrohim is also believed...

LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - Olympic organisers are "very alive" to the threat of a cyber attack on the London 2012 Olympics, made more challenging because of its evolving nature, senior Interior Ministry officials said on Tuesday. Ticketing systems, the transport network and hotel bookings as well as security are among potential targets. Olympic security officials are also planning for the possible diversion of aircraft to protect airspace around the venues from terrorist attacks, the officials said. The greatest threat to security at the Games is international terrorism, the government's latest "Safety and Security Strategy" report said.

Jakarta, Indonesia (AP) - Explosive material recovered from the scene of two suicide bombings at hotels in the Indonesian capital is "identical" to that used by the Southeast Asian terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah in earlier attacks, police said. An unexploded bomb left in a room of the J.W. Marriott in Jakarta resembled devices used in attacks on Bali and one found in a recent raid against the network on an Islamic boarding school in Central Java, national police spokesman told a news conference Sunday.

At least four people have been killed in two separate explosions at luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, say reports. The country's Metro TV reported that one blast hit the Ritz-Carlton and the other, the Marriott Hotel. Television footage showed the facade of one of the hotels had been torn off by the blast. The BBC's Karishma Vaswani, outside the Marriott, said ambulances are present and security is extremely tight. South Jakarta police Col Firman Bundi said the four who died were foreigners, reported AP. "There were explosions heard from two separate places, one the JW Marriott, the other...

The number of California hotels in default or foreclosed on jumped 125% in the last 60 days. The state now has 31 hotels that have been foreclosed on and 175 in default... With 19.6% of the total, San Bernardino County leads the state in foreclosed hotels. Riverside County follows with 16.1% and San Diego County has 12.9%. Los Angeles County, with 12% of the total, has the most hotels in default. San Bernardino County is next with 9.7% and San Diego County follows with 8.0%. Non-franchised hotels account for a disproportionate number of foreclosures. They make up about 87% of...

Extended Stay Hotels has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, buckling under debt as its revenue dries up in the recession. The Spartanburg, S.C.-based company filed its Chapter 11 petition Monday in the Southern District of New York. Extended Stay - which operates under the brands of Extended Stay America, Crossland Economy Studios, Extended Stay Deluxe and Homestead Studio Suites — operates 15 hotels in the Orlando area. According to the filing, Extended Stay had about $7.1 billion in assets and $7.6 billion in liabilities at the end of 2008. Lakewood, N.J.-based Lightstone Group bought Extended Stay from Blackstone Group...

Travel and hotel groups are braced for a turbulent ride today as stock markets react to fears over the strain of swine flu that was reported to have killed up to 71 people and closed much of public life in Mexico at the weekend. Analysts said that the news would revive memories of the 2002-03 severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak. Although the disease, first noticed in southern China in November 2002, was short-lived, it caused the deaths of 774 people worldwide and had a devastating impact on the Asian economy — particularly in Hong Kong — and on the...

Watching Pbama deliberately destroy the economy is an eyeful, the political equivalent of Plan 9 from Outer Space. That nasty glare, that sneer, that haughty lifted shin, the whole package that says, "I won. Now do as I say!" Today He hectored us -- the people who pay the bills -- about how wasteful business travel is, in His opinion. He really meant business, period, but won't get to damning that until next week. Today He damned airlines, hotels, and the travel industry for wasting money by supporting business travel. The Community Organizer had no trouble spending $ 120,000 of...

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - Some of the guests at the Crestwood Suites Hotel, where an alleged meth lab exploded Wednesday morning, currently receive FEMA housing benefits. Shockingly, some of those benefits go all the way back to Hurricane Katrina, which hit Louisiana on August 29, 2005. "They have kids here," said one resident. "They got people that really live here. It's a hotel that people stay at every night. They got people that actually live here, kids that ride the bus every morning from here." FEMA reports 136 families are currently receiving federal assistance to use motels and hotels...

MUMBAI: Police and security agencies here have got a specific alert — from the police of a north Indian state — about RDX having been smuggled into the country as part of a cement consignment from Pakistan and the target being an oil refinery. Officials said the high alert sounded at vital installations like railway stations and hotels in Mumbai last December was not a reaction to the 26/11 carnage but had its basis in this specific intelligence input. Officials also told TOI that more RDX could be coming in as part of cement or other consignments. But the alert...

Note: The following text is a quote: YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report Warden Message: Yemen Alert for Western Hotels CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS Middle East / N. Africa - Yemen 12 Dec 2008 Printer Friendly Email Article RELATED REPORTS 8 Dec 2008 WARDEN MESSAGE: CONTINUED THREATS, YEMEN 18 Sep 2008 WARDEN MESSAGE: YEMEN AUTHORIZED DEPARTURE 17 Sep 2008 U.S. EMBASSY SANA'A ATTACKED 17 Sep 2008 WARDEN MESSAGE: U.S. EMBASSY SANA'A ATTACK 17 Sep 2008 U.S. EMBASSY SANA'A ATTACKED U.S. Embassy Sana’a released the following Warden Message on December 12: As a result of continuing...

U.S. cities are racing to fix security vulnerabilities revealed by the devastating terror attacks in Mumbai, and many hotels remain “sitting ducks,” experts tell Newsmax.

Note: The following text is a quote: YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report Warden Message: Continued Threats, Yemen CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS Middle East / N. Africa - Yemen 8 Dec 2008 Printer Friendly Email Article RELATED REPORTS 18 Sep 2008 WARDEN MESSAGE: YEMEN AUTHORIZED DEPARTURE 17 Sep 2008 U.S. EMBASSY SANA'A ATTACKED 17 Sep 2008 WARDEN MESSAGE: U.S. EMBASSY SANA'A ATTACK 17 Sep 2008 TRAVEL WARNING: YEMEN 17 Sep 2008 U.S. EMBASSY SANA'A ATTACKED U.S. Embassy Sana'a released the following Warden Message on December 8: The U.S. Embassy continues to receive threats against embassies,...

Ominous signs of a new crisis -- one that could turn out the lights on malls, hotels and storefronts nationwide. Even as the holiday shopping season begins in full swing, the same events poisoning the housing market are now at work on commercial properties, and the bad news is trickling in. Malls from Michigan to Georgia are entering foreclosure. Hotels in Tucson, Ariz., and Hilton Head, S.C., also are about to default on their mortgages. That pace is expected to quicken. The number of late payments and defaults will double, if not triple, by the end of next year, according...

Up to eight million people are at risk of ID fraud after a hacker breached the security system of the world's largest hotel chain. An Indian hacker broke into the IT system of Best Western Hotel Group and stole personal details of everyone who has stayed there in the past 12 months. The details, which included home addresses, phone numbers, place of employment and credit card details, were sold on through an underground network controlled by the Russian Mafia.

View the video at this link, and be prepared to get very angry: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1329217643?bctid=1329232712 This is a public health issue. Send this link to everyone you know.

Monday, 31 March 2008 ICE-led probe results in criminal and civil forfeitures of more than $1 million PHOENIX - A federal judge has sentenced the last of the 13 owners and former owners of six motels in Mesa, Ariz., who were indicted after a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) revealed they were using their businesses to harbor illegal aliens in support of organized human smuggling. U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Martone imposed sentences of probation, fines and forfeiture on the final two defendants in the case March 26. The owners of the motels on Mesa's Main Street...

    Women in Saudi Arabia can now stay in a hotel or a furnished apartment without a male guardian, according to a government decision that comes as the country faces increasing criticism for its severe restrictions on women.The daily Al-Watan, which is deemed close to the Saudi government, reported Monday that the ministry issued a circular to hotels asking them to accept lone women - as long as their information is sent to a local police station.The decision was adopted after a study conducted by the Interior Ministry, the Supreme Commission of Tourism and the religious police authority...

SHANGHAI, Jan 16 (Reuters) - German engineer Michael Bosch is not fazed by the lack of a gym and other creature comforts at his budget hotel in a converted Shanghai office building. He's stayed at such hotels on nearly a dozen trips to Chinese cities. "All I need is a clean, warm place to sleep. I don't care so much about service," the 32-year-old said as he waited for 10 minutes for a distracted receptionist to attend to him at a Motel168 on the edge of Shanghai's financial district. The number of budget hotel rooms has mushroomed in the past...

Fairmont Hotels and a New York investment firm pulled out of a $46 million deal to buy the Peaks Resort, leaving Telluride’s largest hotel in long-term limbo as it prepares to reopen for the ski season. Two people with direct knowledge of the negotiations — one from each side of the table — said the hotel’s expensive infrastructure problems had torpedoed the deal. After examining the Peaks, buyers Fairmont and Manhattan-based Thor Equities concluded that the hotel needed $6-7 million in repairs, on top of a planned $60 million renovation... The impasse didn’t break, and on Friday, Fairmont and Thor...

If you travel and stay in hotels--beware! Disgusting practices by hotels that will affect your health. Click on the "related links". The first LINK will show their glass cleaning methods-no other words but DISGUSTING! EmbassySuites and Sheraton Hotels

Hotel chains are removing Bibles from guest rooms, replacing them with "intimacy kits" and adding "One Night Stand" packages as well as "romance concierge" personnel to their offerings, according to a new report in Newsweek. Tens of thousands of Americans are protesting the trend, through an action e-mail alert sponsored by American Family Association. The Newsweek report by Roya Wolverson suggested a new marketing campaign could be based on the apparent values-less programs that are appearing. "Marriott spokesman John Wolf says the Bible question [whether to include them in guest rooms] is premature for the new [boutique hotel] venture, which...

In the rooms of Manhattan's trendy Soho Grand Hotel guests can enjoy an eclectic selection of underground music, iPod docking stations, flat-screen TVs and even the living company of a complimentary goldfish. But, alas, the word of God is nowhere to be found. Unlike traditional hotels, the 10-year-old boutique has never put Bibles in its guest rooms, because "society evolves," says hotel spokeswoman Lori DeBlois. Providing Bibles would mean the hotel "would have to take care of every guest's belief." What might be surprising to many Americans is that the Bible-free room isn't a development just in hip New York...

Workers at a chain of budget hotels are being given advice on how to deal with naked sleepwalkers. Most sleepwalkers are men It follows an increase in the number of guests found wandering around in the night with no clothes on. A study by Travelodge found there had been more than 400 cases in the past year, almost all involving men. Sleep experts blame stress, alcohol abuse and lack of sleep for the disorder. The research, conducted in 310 Travelodge hotels, found sleepwalkers wandered all over the building. A number had walked into the reception area asking for a newspaper...

Hotels hop on the 'green' bandwagonBy Alfred Borcover, Special to the Chicago Tribune August 22, 2007 In case you haven't noticed, hotels are going green, doing their part to be ecologically friendly. You might call it the Al Gore effect, although the movement began before "An Inconvenient Truth" won an Academy Award this year. The green efforts go further than asking guests to use towels and bed linens more than once (as they do at home), to conserve water and avoid flushing more detergent-laden water into sewers. It's also more than replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs in...

UK Hotels Must Switch to Single Rooms Only or Allow Homosexual Sex on Premises By Hilary White LONDON, July 30, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In conflicts over same-sex couples staying in hotels run by religious believers, it is up to the owners to accommodate or close, the government says. In April, the Labour government passed the Sexual Orientation Regulations of the Equality Act 2006, drafted under the supervision of homosexual lobbyists, that make it illegal for Christian and other religious objectors to homosexual behaviour to refuse business to gay clientele. In the case of family owned bed and breakfast establishments, this...

Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, an outspoken critic of pornography, is called to task for his ties to Marriott hotels, a chain that makes money by providing porn to guests. Full audio of news report broadcast on over 1,000 Christian radio stations: http://www.oneplace.com/Ministries/Family_News_in_Focus Family News in Focus is a service of Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, Colorado, founded by Dr. James Dobson.

Has anyone used asiahotels.com, hotels.com or expedia.com to reserve rooms in Japan? We want to reserve rooms in Tokyo, Hiroshima and Kyoto and I'd appreciate any referrals to these sites. If you have any hotels/sights you've enjoyed, please let me know! Thanks

New Hotel Sets Aside Space Just For Women By CHRIS KNAPE   The new JW Marriott hotel under construction in Grand Rapids, Mich., center, will feature a 19th floor and lounge exclusively for female clientele. (Photo by Noel A. Webley II)      GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Among the amenities planned for this city's new JW Marriott hotel, one might be a first in America.The Alticor Inc.-owned riverfront hotel is reserving its 19th floor and a lounge exclusively for female clientele when it opens Sept. 19.Andrea Groom, a spokeswoman for the 24-story, 340-room hotel, said the idea recognizes more than...

That stale cigarette smell. You’ve probably experienced it in hotel rooms, even some that were supposed to be non-smoking. It’s a top complaint of hotel guests - the stinky room. The good news for those of us who hate the smell of used smoke is that officially, as of today, all Marriott properties in the United States and Canada ban smoking inside. That includes all guestrooms; they are now all smoke-free. The 10 percent of the inventory that had been reserved for smokers (the number has declined over the years) has gone bye-bye. And to prove its ban is not...

On a sandy bluff overlooking the Pacific, surfer Mark Massara sees a developing threat to a California amenity: guaranteed beach access for average families. Luxury hotel builders are hovering over the coastline, hoping to expand to California's shores the nationwide trend of developments split between high-priced hotel rooms and privately owned condominiums. Where developers see opportunity in "condo hotels," Massara and others see a legal loophole that lets private buyers snap up parts of the coast which are supposed to remain public. And that, he fears, will make getting to the beach harder. In this low-key northern San Diego County...

NEW YORK - Pornographic movies now seem nearly as pervasive in America's hotel rooms as tiny shampoo bottles, and the lodging industry shows little concern as conservative activists rev up a protest campaign aimed at triggering a federal crackdown. A coalition of 13 conservative groups — including the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America — took out full-page ads in some editions of USA Today earlier this month urging the Justice Department and FBI to investigate whether some of the pay-per-view movies widely available in hotels violate federal and state obscenity laws. The coalition also is trying to...

By Sonia Moghe ASSOCIATED PRESS 11:40 a.m. August 4, 2006 RICHARDSON, Texas – When Ron Patel talks to customers at the Super 8 Motel he owns, he usually does so in English. When he speaks to the housekeeping staff it's often in Spanish. When he talks to his wife, it's in the Indian language Gujarati. It's a complicated but increasingly common scene in U.S. hotels and motels, about one-third of which are owned by Indians, according to the Asian American Hotel Owners Association. To help keep order in the multilanguage environment, many hotel operators are turning to a Gujarati-Spanish phrasebook...

SIR Richard Branson is taking a giant leap for mankind by drawing up plans to build the worlds first space hotels, his space flight company Virgin Galactic has told The Business. Alex Tai, its operations director, who will pilot Virgins first commercial space flight in 2008, has held talks with US hotel entrepreneur Robert Bigelow about the project, Virgin Galactics president Will Whitehorn confirmed. Bigelow Aerospace is developing inflatable pods it believes could receive the first space travellers by the end of the decade. Branson, Virgin Galactics chairman, revealed the space hotel discussions in Dubai last week. Branson said: We...

WASHINGTON -- In the frenetic search to find emergency housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina, the government last October turned to Chicago and found space at a Gold Coast hotel -- for $399 a night. Richard Skinner, inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, told a Senate committee Monday that hotel bills in Chicago and other cities were "excessive compared to [the] contract's estimated cost." One New York hotel charged $438 a night, he said.

Storm Victims Leave Hotels for Sofas, Cars Monday February 13, 2006 10:16 PM By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI Associated Press Writers NEW ORLEANS (AP) - About 12,000 families made homeless by last year's hurricanes began checking out of their federally funded hotel rooms around the country Monday after a federal judge let FEMA stop paying directly for their stays. The Federal Emergency Management Agency promised the evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that they will still receive federal rent assistance that they can put toward hotel stays or other housing. But the agency will no longer pay for their hotel rooms directly....

Fairmont finds white knight By TAVIA GRANT Monday, January 30, 2006 Posted at 7:42 AM EST Globe and Mail Update Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Inc. agreed to be acquired for $3.9-billion (U.S.) by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's Kingdom Hotels International and investment firm Colony Capital, thwarting a takeover attempt by U.S. investor Carl Icahn. The transaction values the Toronto-based company at $45 a share, 12.5 per cent more than Mr. Icahn's $40-a-share bid in December. Fairmont's board unanimously approved the Saudi offer and continues to recommend shareholders reject Mr. Icahn's offer. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Addulaziz Alsaud is...

Evacuees hoping to preserve a government program providing hotel rooms to those displaced by Hurricane Katrina have their day in court on Friday, when a federal judge hears an array of complaints against the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In addition to hearing claims that Katrina victims face unfair and premature eviction from hotels, Judge Stanwood Duval will hear testimony and arguments that FEMA has wrongfully denied rental assistance to some evacuees. "We plan on calling three victims, at least two of whom are about to be evicted from hotels," said Howard Godnick, an attorney for evacuees, who is seeking to...

In a brewing dispute over next year's Mardi Gras, the hotel and tourism industry on Wednesday spoke out against Mayor Ray Nagin's suggestion that hotels donate a portion of their profits from Mardi Gras to help refugees return to the city. Darrius Gray, the head of the Greater New Orleans & Lodging Association, belittled Nagin's suggestion, saying hotels have been losing money since Hurricane Katrina and are in no position to hand out money. "Profits are hard to come by these days to tell you the truth," Gray said. Nagin made his comments on Tuesday after a news conference, but...

Is Islam a religion of peace or terror? Is it only the Islamic fundamentalists causing the problem or is the root problem in Islam itself? Here are some facts to consider: 1. Nearly all the conflicts and terror currently occuring around the world involve Muslims. 2. More people are killed by Islamists each year than in all 350 years of the Spanish Inquisition combined. 3. Islamic terrorists murder more people every day than the Ku Klux Klan has in the last 50 years. 4. 19 Muslim hijackers killed more innocents in two hours on September 11th than the number of...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2005 – A combination of rockets and car bombs exploded near the outer walls of the Palestine and Sheraton hotels in downtown Baghdad today, military officials reported. A statement from Multinational Force Iraq said civilian casualties have yet to be determined, but that no coalition forces were injured in the attack. Iraqi security forces and coalition forces are securing the area and bringing order to the bombing site, the statement said. Reportedly, a number of Western journalists stay at the Palestine Hotel. In other Iraq news, Iraqi army troops detained two men and their stash of ordnance...

My Mom's a FEMA trainer. She told me today that if you're looking at the hurricane you can, because President Bush declared the emergency when he did, apply to FEMA to cover your hotel cost if your house gets damaged. So you folks in harms way, please leave for safer elevations and don't use money as an excuse to stay.

As your jet starts its descent, you are glued to your window. The scene below is astonishing: a 24-square-mile archipelago of coral-colored islands in the shape of an almost finished puzzle of the world. In the shallow green waters between continents, the sunken shapes of the Pyramids of Giza and the Roman Colosseum are clearly visible. In the distance are three other large island groups configured as palms within crescents and planted with high-rise resorts, amusement parks, and a thousand mansions built on stilts over the water. The palms are connected by causeways to a Miami-like beachfront chockablock with full...