Free Republic

Surface road transportation comes with congestion, construction and hordes of cranky commuters. One potential workaround? Flight. That’s the idea behind SureFly, an octocopter concept capable of carrying two passengers into remote and difficult-to-access areas up to 70 miles away. Better known for its trucks, Workhorse Group Inc. plans to unveil the technology at the Paris Air Show on June 19. “It’s designed to be a short-hop machine — if you can fly a drone, you should be able to fly this,” Steven Burns, chief executive of the Loveland, Ohio, company told Trucks.com. Only a mock-up concept vehicle will be on...

The upsurge in economic activity that has followed from Donald Trump's elevation to the presidency has an unpublicized "dark side" according to a recent newscast from CBS. Network correspondent Norah O'Donnell explained that "what the Trump Administration failed to consider was that getting people off unemployment and welfare and into the workforce means more will be on the roads driving to their jobs. This exposes them to higher risk of death and injury in traffic crashes." "Worse, the risk isn't confined to the work commute," O'Donnell breathlessly told viewers. "When people are more prosperous they also travel more for recreation....

Ivanka Trump is the “first daughter” in the United States of America. Her father, US President Donald Trump has been a controversial figure when it comes to climate change and tourism. Geoffrey Lipman can be considered a senior celebrity in the travel and tourism world. Lipman is president of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) and co-founder of SUN. ICTP is a Haleiwa, Hawaii-based association of tourism destinations and stakeholders with members in more than 100 countries. Brussels based Professor Lipman has a unique proposal to the first daughter and pledged to have SUN Centers manned only by women...

Conventional jet engines generate thrust by mixing fuel with compressed air, then igniting it. As the burning mixture rapidly expands, it gets blasted out of the back of the engine, propelling the craft forward. On the other hand, a plasma jet engine does away with the standard air and fuel mixture. Instead, it makes use of electricity to compress and excite gas into a plasma — an extremely hot, dense ionised state comparable with the insides of a fusion reactor or a star — then generate an electromagnetic field from it. Plasma engines have remained in experimental stages for quite...

AVOLA, Sicily — It was a far cry from the rotting fishing boats and overstuffed dinghies that carry so many thousands of migrants precariously to Italian shores. The family of six had paid about $96,000 (all figures US) to travel from Afghanistan to Turkey. The last leg of their journey, a cramped week's sail through the Aegean and Mediterranean seas aboard a cerulean 50-foot yacht, the Polina, piloted by three Ukrainian skippers, cost $7,000 a head. It dropped them in Sicily in relative style. As migrants go, this was luxury class. It was not the first time that Carlo Parini,...

As the overseas debut of President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump draws to a close -- the couple is set to return to Washington this weekend -- there was the usual bluster and bravado from the President. His white-knuckled handshake with France's new president made headlines. The speech to NATO was memorable, as was his brusque, push-aside of the leader of Montenegro to make his way to the front of a pack of world leaders. It was classic, unadulterated Trump, a man the country has come to know for all of the above quirks, mannerisms and machismo. But...

International Cruise & Excursions has moved its headquarters to the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, the latest in a long line of activity in the area. ICE moved to Riverwalk Arizona, 7720 N. Dobson Road, in a 155,000-square-foot facility, approximately 25 percent larger than the company's previous corporate headquarters at 15501 N. Dial Blvd. “We are excited that this opportunity aligns with our 20 year company anniversary, making 2017 an exciting year of new beginnings for the entire organization,” said Marcia Rowley, company co-founder and chief operating officer. “The new space allows us to better serve our partners and expanding...

South Mississippi officials gathered Wednesday (May 24) to break ground on a big addition to the Island View Casino Resort in Gulfport, south Mississippi media outlets reported. The addition will push the casino's floor space to 123,000 -- the largest on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, WLOX television station reported. The new, smoke-free venue will be on the south side of U.S. 90 and provide an additional 43,000 square feet of gambling space. Floor-to-ceiling glass will give visitors a view of the water in the Mississippi Sound....

I'm going to accompany my beloved wife to St. Paul to attend a science fiction/fantasy convention July 20-23. My first impression is that Diversicon will be overrun with "fluffy bunnies", and other libtards. Therefore, while she is attending panel discussions about "making your monsters relatable", and other such drivel, I would love to meet up with local freepers for beer and cigars.

California Governor Jerry Brown (D) lashed out at opponents of recent state tax increases calling them "freeloaders." "I've had it with then," Brown complained. "They think that they have a champion in Trump whose 'siren song' of self-reliance as the way to prosperity is leading so many away from their responsibility to the human collective. The reluctance to pay taxes is selfish. It is everyone's obligation to carry their fair share of the burden. It is the government task to determine what that share is for each individual. Once that determination is made refusal to cooperate is anti-social." The State's...

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...

The guiltiest pleasure at Los Angeles international airport’s (LAX) new private terminal for the mega-rich is not the plush, hushed privacy, or the beds with comforters, or the massages, or the coriander-scented soap, or the Willy Wonka-style array of chocolates and jelly beans, or the Napa Valley cabernet. It is the iPad that sits on a counter at the entrance, with a typed little note: “Here is a glimpse of what you’re missing over at the main terminal right now.” The screen shows travellers hauling bags through packed terminals, queuing in long lines, looking harassed and being swallowed into pushing,...

The East Japan Railway company sent to the first journey of the ultramodern train Train Suite Shiki-shima, for which tickets are booked until March next year. Train Train Suite Shiki-shima called “boutique on wheels”. It is designed for only 34 passengers and consists of ten cars, which placed 17 of the compartment, restaurant and lounge. According to The Japan Times, the creation is invested 5 billion yen, equivalent to $44.5 million Train Suite Shiki-shima should be three tourist routes, beginning in Tokyo and passing through the various prefectures of the country. The interiors of the trains was developed by the...

BISBEE — Bisbee has joined three southern Arizona communities who ranked high in USA Today's “Best Small Towns in the Southwest.” Bisbee ranked second, behind Ajo, respectively. USA Today 10Best editors compiled a list of 70 towns with populations less than 10,000, and narrowed those down to 20 for the vote. According to 10best.com, nominees were "travel-worthy for their beauty, culture, shopping, dining, entertainment and lodging options.” Bisbee has a population of about 5,500 and is known for its affluent art community and preserved historic architectural heritage. Last year, Bisbee was chosen by Sunset Magazine editors as the “Best Small...

FullMag Youtuber Ford truck usage has taken its toll, the cylinder has gone out. It would cost more to have it fix then to just go out and buy a new truck. Rather than tear up the vehicle piece by piece, they’ve decided to try out a theory with a 50 cal Barrett. Can a .50 cal stop a running engine? FullMag utilizes the armor piercing, incendiary round for a good cause. Shooting through the block is relatively anticlimactic, since it will only leak oil. So let's try to place a couple rounds through the valves and see if we...

A challenge to the state's I-77 toll lane was denied by the N.C. Court of Appeals today.The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel upheld a lower court, which had dismissed a citizen group's attempt to stop the public-private project in Mecklenburg and Iredell counties.This was a big political issue in the 2016 governor's race, costing Pat McCrory a lot of votes in those counties. As a legal issue, the opposition doesn't seem to have much gas.I-77 from Charlotte to Mooresville is a traffic nightmare. To address the congestion, the state's DOT in 2014 signed a contract with a Delaware LLC...

A new Norwegian study from the Ragnar Frisch Center for Economic Research found that migrants become less interested in integrating with Norwegians the longer they are in the country. Knut Røed, a senior researcher at the Frisch Center, explained the seemingly anomalous findings as "not as strange as we first thought. It seems that most of the migrants entering the country expected they would have to work in order to survive. After all, that's the way it is in the countries they came from. But as they realize that the government here will support them they quite rationally choose not...

Robert Ménard, mayor of the town of Beziers in southern France, has been fined 2,000 euros for "hate speech." The "hate speech" consisted of his observation that in a school in the center of his town more than 90% of the students are Muslim. Judge Maurice Cador called Ménard's remarks "extraordinarily insensitive toward Muslims. His defense relied upon the assertion that he spoke the truth. Under our laws truth is not a valid defense. We concede that his statement was factually accurate. However, it is the government's policy to not call attention to the rising proportion of resident aliens in...

American astronauts may be walking on Mars in the next eight years, or ideally the next four, if President Donald Trump has his way. But the new timetable has baffled experts in space travel. (AUDIO-AT-LINK) The surprise announcement — or rather instruction — took place this week during a live video conference between President Trump and veteran astronaut Peggy Whitson, who is currently aboard the International Space Station. During the conversation, Trump asked Whitson when it would be possible to send a human to Mars. She gave a careful and detailed answer explaining that a trip to the Red Planet...

Back in February, I wrote a report on being heavily groped between my legs by a woman with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. I labeled what she did to me sexual assault, to which some people took offense in the comment sections where the column was posted. However, what she did fits the definition of sexual assault as provided by the United States Department of Justice. You can nit-pick definition and intent all you like and can call it what you will, but I will call a spade a spade, and just...