Free Republic

City leaders in San Francisco, California, are working to install 400 license plate readers across the area to reduce criminal activity. Leaders and community groups held a press conference on Wednesday to highlight the technology for which the city received a $15.3 million grant to install, KTVU reported. Mayor London Breed (D) said, “This does not include speed cameras. This does not include facial recognition, but it will be useful for Amber Alerts. It will help us to find missing persons as well.”

A revoked Nevada license plate that was meant to “drive away” Californians is getting one last chance to go back on the streets. The plate — which reads “GOBK2CA,” short for “Go back to California” — was recalled by the state Department of Motor Vehicles in May after it received a complaint, KOLO-TV first reported. Now the vehicle owner is appealing the recall and will have a hearing on Wednesday, according to the Reno-area news station. A section of the Nevada Administrative Code applied to the recall prohibits defamatory references to a person or group. “In this case, the defamed...

Over two years ago, on January 5, 2021, a suspect planted pipe bombs near the Washington DC RNC and DNC headquarters the night before the January 6, 2021 protests. The culprit was caught on video but never caught by the FBI – the so-called greatest intelligence service in the world. snip in 2022 a whistleblower stepped forward and disclosed that the FBI was withholding information on the investigation. In May, Representatives Jim Jordan (R-OH), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Bill Posey (R-FL) sent a letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), demanding an update on the case of the J6...

But if you type in “COVID” or “ZAMBONE” or “DORK,” the site will reject you, because those are three of the thousands of terms on the office’s “Special Plates Inhibit List,” which currently runs 22 pages long and contains 7,445 custom license plates that the state bans from Illinois vehicles. ...We’re allowed to post the original list here, but be warned that you may find 99 percent of these terms objectionable or even obscene.

At the February 7 Pontotoc Aldermen meeting Pontotoc Police Chief Randy Tutor addressed concerns and assured a small group of residents that the police department’s soon to be installed Flock Safety cameras would be used solely to fight crime and bolster safety and not invade or spy on the privacy of Pontotoc residents. At the January 17 board meeting Pontotoc Aldermen voted unanimously to approve a two year subscription contract with Flock Safety Inc. for operation of eight of their license plate reader cameras in the city of Pontotoc. Pontotoc County resident Adam Miller and Pontotoc resident Kyle Eubank addressed...

It’s a long and twisting saga that has lasted years. It involves a lawsuit, a stolen car and a polarizing point of view. And it’s all over a Hawaii license plate. The City and County of Honolulu approved a set of specialty Hawaii license plates in January 2021 bearing the letters “FCKBLM,” an acronym that can be read as “F—k Black Lives Matter,” referring to the social movement. Since then, Honolulu has tried to reclaim the two license plates because of the expletive, but its owner refused to return them. Seven months after issuing the plate, the county contacted the...

Elon Musk @elonmusk · 22h Replying to @elonmusk Last night, car carrying lil X in LA was followed by crazy stalker (thinking it was me), who later blocked car from moving & climbed onto hood. Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family. Elon Musk @elonmusk · 19h Anyone recognize this person or car? *Video of person wearing Islamic-looking garb with face hidden, almost took down mask but saw camera and put it back up, and license plate of car*

You’ll soon likely have another specialty plate to choose from in Florida. But this latest plate is already polarizing. Governor Ron DeSantis is promoting a Don’t Tread on Me plate patterned over a flag that was first flown on a warship in 1775 as a battle cry for American independence, but its meaning has changed a lot since then. However, the plates won’t be made available until 3000 people statewide order them. Then you’ll see them popping up on other cars. But already they’re raising eyebrows. The bright yellow historical flag depicts a timber rattlesnake ready to strike. Raymond Homand...

Michigan police have released footage of a black man being shot in the back of the head by a white cop during a struggle over a Taser following a traffic stop in Grand Rapids, sparking protests across the city with hundreds of people calling for justice. Amid public outcry for transparency, police released the footage on Wednesday showing Patrick Lyoya, 26, face down on the ground as he is fatally shot outside a house in Grand Rapids, Michigan on April 4. The vides also depicts the events leading up to the shooting, including the traffic stop that led to a...

The Buckeye State became the cockeyed state after botching the design of the iconic Wright Brothers plane while rolling out its new license plates. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine was left red-faced as the birthplace of aviation unveiled the new Sunshine In Ohio license plate on October 21, the fourth new plate in the last 20 years. DeWine wanted the plate to reflect the 'heart and soul' of the Buckeye State as well as the 'beauty' of the seal Ohio, all the diverse cities and the aviation heritage. However, the plate created by the DMV flipped the orientation on the famed...

License-plate readers are feeding immense databases with details on Americans’ driving habits, helping solve crimes despite little public awareness about the breadth of the data collected or how it is used. The vast network of automated license-plate scanners, which has been growing for decades, makes it nearly impossible to drive anywhere in the U.S. without being observed. The scanners first appeared on telephone poles and police cars, then on toll plazas and bridges, and in parking lots. Today, scanners are routinely placed on tow trucks and municipal garbage trucks, gathering images of plates on cars they pass while making their...

Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, a Mexican citizen residing in Singapore, was arrested based on a Complaint charging him with acting within the United States on behalf of a foreign government (Russia), without notifying the Attorney General, and conspiracy to do the same.John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Ariana Fajardo Orshan, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; George Piro, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; and Diane J. Sabatino, Director of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Miami Field Office, made the announcement. According to court...

<p>COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Swedish authorities say that a man has been denied a vanity plate with the letters TRUMP because it violated motor vehicle department rules, calling the letter combination “offensive.”</p> <p>The Aftonbladet tabloid, one of Sweden’s largest newspapers, reported Saturday that the man said he “was drunk and thought it was fun to apply” online for a new licence plate with U.S. President Donald Trump’s last name “because the car is American.”</p>

After the New Hampshire Division of Motor Vehicles tried to make a woman turn in her potty-humored vanity license plates, New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu stepped in to personally overturn the decision and let her keep it. Wendy Auger, a bartender in Rochester, has had plates reading "PB4UGO" for 15 years. But last week, she received a recall notice from the DMV, ordering her exchange them for a standard license plate or another vanity plate.

If you live in Arizona and register your vehicle there, you have the option of ordering a special vanity plate with the words “In God We Trust” on it. Or at least you have that option for now. Democratic state Sen. Juan Mendez has introduced a bill that would stop the sale of these particular vanity plates, claiming that a portion of the money raised in this fashion is going to “a hate group.” The group in question is the Alliance Defending Freedom, who we’ve written about here before. They provide legal defense work in cases aligned with conservative...

Ohio officials have granted a woman's request to have President Donald Trump's mysterious tweeted typo, "covfefe," on her license plate. Brittany Scott tells The Columbus Dispatch in May she saw a Twitter post by Trump that read: "Despite the constant negative press covfefe." The 29-year-old Cortland woman says she wrote in her application that her request stemmed from a tweet from the 45th president of the United States, and the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles approved it. Scott says she hasn't received any complaints online or from fellow motorists. A bureau committee examines hundreds of applications each day for vanity...

NOVA SCOTIA, Canada -- What would you think if you saw the words "Grab Her" on a license plate? Someone who saw that in Canada complained to the country's department of transportation, but it turns out that the plate is not an insult. The plate spells out a driver's last name, but that did not stop Transport Canada from canceling the plate.

PHOENIX — Got one of those plastic covers or films over your license plate? Be prepared to get out your screwdriver or razor blade to take it off. Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday signed legislation making it illegal to put any covering or substance on a plate "that obscures from any angle the number, characters, year validating tabs or name of the jurisdiction issuing the plate.'' The measure takes effect 90 days after the end of the session, meaning probably not until sometime in August. Violators would be subject to civil fines decided by a judge. The issue has been...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - An atheist's request for a personalized license plate saying "IM GOD" was denied by the state of Kentucky, which said it might distract other drivers, and would be in bad taste. Bennie Hart says that by announcing "IM GOD" on his license plate, he simply wants to show the impossibility of disproving anyone's claim to being "God." Besides, Hart says, he had the same plate for a dozen years when he lived in Ohio, without causing any problems.

TUALATIN, Ore. — A Tualatin couple has been subject to borderline harassment for displaying the last name of a presidential candidate on their cars' license plates. Nine years ago Brian Trump ordered special Oregon vanity plates. --SNIP-- The intimidating behavior by other drivers began about 18 months ago, Trump said. "It took me a minute to figure out. I didn't cut this person off, [I] used my blinker, I'm not like driving crazy," Trump laughed. "Someone goes you're not a Trump supporter are you? And I was like, it's my last name!" Trump says he made the connection, but continued...