Free Republic

NEW YORK — New York City is buying one-way plane tickets for homeless families to leave the city. It's part of a program by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration to keep the homeless out of the expensive shelter system, which costs $36,000 a year per family. More than 550 families have left the city since 2007. All it takes is for a relative to agree to take them in. The city employs a travel agency for domestic travel and the Department of Homeless Services handles international travel.

One reason Barack Obama may think the Cambridge Police Department is "stupid" is that he has a grudge against the law enforcement agency. Obama, who attended Harvard Law School from 1988 to 1991, lived in Cambridge, and apparently didn't like the fact he was frequently hit with parking tickets. In all Obama received 17 tickets for parking violations -- and never paid 15 of them until he was exposed by a local Massachusetts newspaper as a scofflaw.

More Monthlies Needed!! If we had enough monthlies to cover our costs we wouldn't even need to hold FReepathons or, in the very least, they'd run a lot faster. If you are a regular donor to Free Republic, please consider starting a monthly. Your donations will be processed automatically by our program or through PayPal. If you are not a regular donor to Free Republic but find our website fun, useful and informative, please consider becoming a regular donor. Start a monthly if you can. And if you start your monthly this month (or increase your current monthly) please let...

<p>Woo hoo!! We'll be taking the Tea Party Express to DC where we'll join with hundreds of thousands of outraged Americans raising holy hell against the wannabe fascist tinpot dictator, B. Hussein Obama!!</p> <p>It's our intention to step up the intensity level of the Tea Party movement a few decibels! Obama is now attempting to RULE over America without even seeking oversight or approval of the U.S. Congress or the consent of We the People! This cannot be allowed to stand! America is a constitutional republic NOT a dictatorship!</p>

A NewsChannel 5 investigation uncovers what could become a major ticket-fixing scandal in the city of Nashville.And it raises new questions about whether there's one set of laws for those with connections -- and another for the rest of us.But unlike a ticket-fixing problem exposed by NewsChannel 5 Investigates three years ago, it's not the city's elected judges who are dismissing the tickets.So who is it?Our chief investigative reporter Phil Williams has an investigation more than six months in the making.***When you're out on the highway, the radar detector doesn't know who you are.But when deputy juvenile court clerk Matt Drury got ticketed for...

DEARBORN, Mich -- A Dearborn police officer is facing charges in a bribery scheme for allegedly fixing traffic tickets. Alex Brian Ramirez, 42, was charged along with 20-year-old Hassan H. Hojaije. Both men are from Dearborn. Ramirez is charged with embezzlement, misconduct in office, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice and larceny, all felonies. Hojaije is charged with obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice, both felonies, and a misdemeanor charge of bribery.

Less than a minute after tickets for last August's Neil Diamond concerts at New York's Madison Square Garden went on sale, more than 100 seats were available for hundreds of dollars more than their normal face value on premium-ticket site TicketExchange.com. The seller? Neil Diamond. Ticket reselling -- also known as scalping -- is an estimated $3 billion-a-year business in which professional brokers buy seats with the hope of flipping them to the public at a hefty markup. ...the source of the higher-priced tickets was the singer, working with Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc., which owns TicketExchange, and concert promoter AEG Live....

I received this e-mail, which has instructions on how George Strait fan club members can purchase tickets for the Cowboy Stadium June 6 concert ahead of the public. Problem is, the e-mail is undecipherable. Why do we apparently have two different user names and two different passwords? How does the George Strait web site sign on relate to any Ticketmaster sign on we might need to create? Or do we need to create a Ticketmaster account? thanks. See below: To purchase tickets for the shows listed below you will be required to enter your George Strait Fan Club username and...

It's believed that he earned upwards of £24,000 through his scam.Abdul Musa, a garage owner from Blackburn, Lancashire, today begins a 16 month stretch in jail after police discovered he was getting paid to take the blame for other people’s speeding offences. According to reports he charged customers £200 a time for his ‘services’, admitting to authorities that he had been driving a car when it got caught on camera. With his service proving particularly popular with local taxi drivers it is believed that he made upwards of £24,000. It is though that he falsely accepted responsibility for at least...

Charles Rangel paid parking tickets with campaign moneyRICHARD SISK DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU Tuesday, December 30th 2008, 10:45 PM WASHINGTON - Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) racked up $1,540 in parking tickets on his Chrysler PT Cruiser and paid for them - legally - with campaign money, his office confirmed Tuesday. Rangel, who is fighting off a House ethics committee investigation of his taxes, campaign contributions and four rent-stabilized apartments in New York, was hit for multiple parking violations around the District of Columbia since March 2007, Congressional Quarterly reported. Payments were made from Rangel's campaign committee and his "leadership" political...

TAMPA, Fla., Dec. 8, 2008 – Nearly a thousand servicemembers got a big “thank you” gift here Dec. 6 with free tickets to the Atlantic Coast Conference football championship football game between the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Boston College Eagles. The Hokies beat the Eagles 30-12, becoming the ACC’s first two-time winner of the championship game. But no matter who they were cheering for, the troops seemed grateful for the tickets to a long-awaited game. “It’s the most amazing thing ever,” said an Army wife. “I’m a football lover, and I’m glad they took the time to recognize the...

In 2002, police in the city of Detroit gave out a total of 126,007 traffic tickets. Last year, the number of tickets grew to over 245,000 - a 94% jump. The increase was even larger in small towns like Plymouth which saw the number of tickets go up from 440 to 2,500 — up 480 percent — over the same amount of time. According to Detroit area police the reason for the increase is dwindling property tax revenue. That lack of property tax revenue has forced local governments in Michigan to use average citizen drivers to fill the coffers. You...

Has anyone RSVP'd tickets to a McCain/Palin rally online via McCain's official campaign website? I did so today for a rally that I will be driving 5 hours to attend tomorrow morning. I haven't received any confirmation or anything and am starting to get worried. I think tickets are required to attend the event, but the website clearly offers the choice of RSVPing online. I submitted my reservation on the website and a message screen appeared which stated something like "Thanks for signing up for the rally." It was a generic automatic response message. So, has anyone previously done this...

Some of those hoping to wrangle a seat for Barack Obama's speech were told this week they have to put in six hours of volunteer work for his campaign by Friday to have a shot at a ticket. And that ruffled at least a few feathers. "My whole reason why I'm so mad about it is because Democrats need to act like Democrats," said Heather Kreider, a working mother from Centennial. "Democrats work for a living, and they have to work and take care of their families. And they say these are open to those in the community, so they...

The Obama campaign has started notifying people of their ticket status for the big acceptance speech at Invesco Field the final night of the convention.Many of those who received calls told 7NEWS their tickets have come with a caveat.Those viewers said the campaign told them they must volunteer six hours for the campaign by Friday, Aug. 15, in order to get a ticket. "I got a call that if I want the tickets I have to volunteer two shifts of three hours apiece -- for one ticket. If I want two tickets, then it's four shifts of two hours apiece,"...

There is a very good reason why most Yankee fans don't care how much their team spends on baseball players. One of the best reasons is that their team keeps asking them - at least the most well-heeled of them - to spend more and more to help pay the freight. There is a guy I know who has tickets behind the Yankee dugout, has had them for awhile. Last season each seat cost $150 per game. This season, because it is the last season at the old Yankee Stadium, the cost went up to $250. Next season, if he...

TALLAHASSEE -- Responding to what he calls ''obscenely high prices'' for concert tickets, a state lawmaker from Miami Beach wants to crack down on people who scoop up tickets and resell them at hundreds of dollars more than face value. Rep. Dan Gelber, who has two daughters, ages 7 and 9, will unveil his proposed legislation Tuesday at North Beach Elementary School, just hours before Disney Channel pop sensation Hannah Montana performs at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise. His bill -- which would have to navigate through a GOP-controlled Legislature before becoming law -- takes aim primarily at those who...

There are people paying $250 this week for Hannah Montana concert tickets with a face value of 25 bucks. For those of you not blessed with 13-year-old daughters who watch the Disney Channel, Hannah Montana is a fictional pop star played by the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus - also known as the Achy-Breaky Heart guy. Anyone who’d pay 10 times face value for tickets to watch a cable TV actress sing bad pop music for pre-teens is a dope who shouldn’t have access to a checkbook without adult supervision. On the other hand, there are people prepared to pay...

LONDON (AFP) - Tickets for the Spice Girls' comeback concert in London sold out in just 38 seconds, the show's organisers announced on Monday. Demand was so overwhelming -- more than one million people in Britain registered for the sole London show -- that organisers added three more London dates to the tour. The five original Spice Girls -- Scary, Sporty, Ginger, Posh and Baby -- will kick off their worldwide reunion tour on December 2 in Vancouver, their first since Geri Halliwell quit in May 1998, with a December 15 concert scheduled at London's O2 arena. Organisers added London...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - A suburban parking official is threatening to auction off a Marine Corps recruiter's car tied to nearly $5,000 in unpaid tickets, part of what the city claims is the Corps' roughly $94,000 tab. "We've tried to be reasonable, but all we've been getting is the run-around," Parking Commissioner Albert Moroni said. The car will be put up for sale in September unless the fines are paid, he said. The vehicle, bearing U.S. government license plates and a Marine Corps decal, was parked in a city garage without payment, according to Moroni. It has racked up 94...