Free Republic

Budget-conscious travelers heading to New York City in the coming months could feel a chill in the air — and it’s not just the weather. With a legal battle brewing between state officials and the popular short-term rental site Airbnb, the issue could prompt some of the site’s local users to rethink their roles as part-time landlords. “There are lots of people who are hesitant about posting on Airbnb because of the lack of clarity about what’s legal and what’s not; this will only add to that,” said Arun Sundararajan, a professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business. “It may...

Imagine you have a brother and he’s an alcoholic. He has his moments, but you keep your distance from him. You don’t mind him for the occasional family gathering or holiday. You still love him. But you don’t want to be around him. This is how I lovingly describe my current relationship with the United States. The United States is my alcoholic brother. And although I will always love him, I don’t want to be near him at the moment. I know that’s harsh, but I really feel my home country is not in a good place these days. That’s...

"At this point we're around half way through the first phase," Franco Porcellacchia, leader of Costa Cruise's technical team, told reporters. "It's all happening very slowly but very carefully and safely."

The high cost of medical care in the US plus the rationing of medical care in other nations has spurred the growth of medical tourism. As I mentioned in a previous post, outstanding doctors, nurses, and hospital facilities can be found in countries such as Costa Rica, Thailand, India, the Philippines, etc. offering care at costs significantly lower than in the US and without the rationing and waiting times of other countries. One problem with traveling from the US to another nation for medical care is the cost and inconvenience of travel. Additionally, each nation will have its own tort...

Americans who dream of a retirement filled with sandy beaches, temperate weather and colorful local life may have another thing coming. That's because a new report from the National Institute on Retirement Security finds that 45 percent of working-age households have no retirement savings at all. The average figure for funds set aside by households nearing the end of their working lives was a meager $12,000. That's not enough to cover a single year. If there is no change in their savings rate, many Americans may wind up living on monthly Social Security benefits alone. Monthly benefits now average just...

(CNSNews.com) - While President Barack Obama is now asking Congress to authorize him to use military force against the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad because that regime used chemical weapons on its own people, the State Department is maintaining a travel warning advising Americans not to travel to Syria because the al-Nusrah Front, the al Qaeda affiliate in Syria--which is particiapting in the rebellion seeking to overthrow Assad--has carried out about 600 attacks in the country since November 2011. These al Qaeda terrorist attacks, according to the State Department, have killed many Syrian civilians. "There is also a threat from...

I want to go to the Lake Country in Northern Italy. Anyone been there?

Attorney General Eric Holder has racked up more than $4.2 million in travel expenses over four years, including $697,525 in taxpayer-provided personal trips to resort areas like Martha´s Vineyard and Atlantic City, according to documents provided to the watchdog group Judicial Watch. The records from Justice and provided to Secrets show that Holder, who is required to travel on government aircraft because of security, submitted bills of $16,452.50 to speak at Al Sharpton´s National Action Network on New York in April 2011, $38,108.18 in expenses to address the pro-immigration reform group LULAC

Obama wants all Americans to now report voluntarily to the government regarding any foreign travel. The program is currently voluntary, but the word on the Hill is there are those who are suggesting this should be mandatory to protect Americans of course. The program is called STEP “Smart Traveler Enrollment Program.” Today, most Americans are willfully blind. They refuse to connect the dots and think the government would never do anything really to harm the people. This is not about harming or protecting anyone. Look at Benghazi. They asked for help and it was not sent in for political reasons....

Watch the 7 minute 17 second video Beauty Beneath the Dirt: Thru-Hiking 101. It's brief description : Everything you need to know about thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail in 7 minutes. For the story beneath the surface... check out: http://beautybeneaththedirt.com.

The Rude Man of Cerne, better known as the Cerne Abbas Giant, is a giant figure of a naked man with an inappropriately erect phallus, wielding a primitive club in his right hand, made on a hill near the village of Cerne Abbas in Dorset, England. The Cerne Abbas Giant was created by carving through the turf of the hillside to a depth of approximately 30cm to reveal the underlying chalk common in this region. Measuring 55 meters in length and 50.5 meters wide, if measured from hand to hand, it is one of the largest and the most popular...

World-renowned chef, author and Emmy winning television personality Anthony Bourdain visits Libya in the next episode of "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown," airing Sunday, May 19, at 9 p.m. ET. Follow the show on Twitter and Facebook (CNN) -- Following Libya's revolution, oil production has been restored and the country has slipped from the front pages. Once more, Libya has become North African rather than southern Mediterranean, and news dispatches surface only when Western government's worst fears appear close to being realized. As most Libyans admit that after four-plus decades of Moammar Gadhafi, it will take time to build a mature...

Passenger satisfaction on airlines has risen to its highest level since 2006, before baggage fees became widespread, according to the J.D. Power & Associates 2013 North America Airline Satisfaction Study released Wednesday. O'Hare's main airlines, United and American, continued to score poorly though. Southwest Airlines, the main carrier out of Midway airport, continued its streak of high rankings. Baggage fees continue to be a source of passenger dissatisfaction but the impact is less pronounced than in the past, as passengers gradually become more accepting of the fees, the study said.

The Mail On Sunday today exposes the massive international security risk posed by a gun that can be easily made with new 3D printers. We built the weapon, which is capable of firing a live round, from blueprints available on the internet – then smuggled it on to a packed Eurostar train. Two reporters passed completely unchallenged through strict airport-style security to carry the gun on to a London to Paris service in the weekend rush-hour, alongside hundreds of unsuspecting travellers. The pistol, capable of firing a deadly 0.38-calibre bullet, was produced in under 36 hours using a revolutionary £1,700...

Do you dream of living on Mars? Then turn on your webcam. You've got an application video to make. Mars One, a Netherlands-based group that wants to turn the colonizing of Mars into a reality television phenomenon, has started accepting applications for its astronaut selection program. In just two weeks, more than 78,000 people from more than 120 countries have applied. You don't need previous experience in rocket science, astronomy or really anything to apply for the Mars One astronaut selection program - but you will need to be at least 18 years old and have nerves of steel. Mars...

The Obama administration spent between $2.52 million and $2.77 million for hotel rooms and rental cars during the president's 2012 trip to Mexico for a G-20 summit, MailOnline has learned. Government travel documents available online show that the State Department contracted with a travel agency to spend between $1,889,383 and $2,078,327 on hotel rooms alone, for the President, the Secret Service, and the rest of the State Department and White House staff and VIPs. And rental cars for the trip cost between $630,760 and $693,836, according to a separate contract document. That paperwork disclosed that on previous visits to Mexico,...

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Wednesday backed a plan that would temporarily eliminate spending cuts disrupting U.S. air travel, while lawmakers in Washington scrambled to avoid blame as the impact of the reductions began being felt across the country.

In response to a lawsuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit ... ordered the TSA to give the public a 90-day comment period, which the agency did not do when it launched the scanning program. The TSA began the comment period online in March, and so far it has been getting an average of 26 comments a day — nearly all of which blast the TSA and the scanners for a variety of reasons .... To add your comments, visit www.regulations.gov and type in the case code TSA-2013-0004.

Every time I say “Just when I thought the TSA couldn’t stoop any lower”, the TSA goes and does something that proves that yes, they absolutely *can* stoop lower. On February 9, Nathan Forck and his wife Annie, along with their three children, were at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport on their way to Orlando for a family vacation to Disney World. The Forcks’ three-year old daughter, Lucy, has spinal bifida and is confined to a wheelchair. They got through the TSA security checkpoint quickly and without incident but as they were getting ready to walk to their gate to board...

We all hear the news reports – laptops, tablets, jewelry, cash, and more… stolen from passengers by sticky-fingered TSA agents. Thefts became such a problem that even the TSA had to step up to the plate and take action.In recent years, the TSA has fired over 400 agents for allegedly stealing from passengers in our nation’s airports.Thanks to ABC News and a Freedom of Information Act request, the TSA is releasing the names of the airports where those employees worked. Predictably, many of our nation’s busiest airports also rank at the top of the list for the number of TSA...