Free Republic

Working in exile, Alexey Navalny’s team of anti-corruption activists have released a new investigation linking a $700-million superyacht to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The luxury vessel, officially registered to an offshore company in the Marshall Islands, is allegedly crewed by members of Russia’s Secret Service (the FSO). The Scheherazade is one of only 14 yachts in the world that are at least 140 meters (459 feet) long — and according to The New York Times, it’s the only superyacht of its kind whose owner isn’t publicly unknown. On paper, the ship belongs to an offshore company from the Marshall Islands......

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was caught on video faking his environmentally-friendly commute to work this week. The meme he was trying to communicate is that he cares so much about the environment that he bicycles to work every day. The official video of this shows him arriving at his office peddling happily along the street. The unofficial video captured by a wary observer showed Buttigieg hopping on a bicycle a few blocks from his office building after having unloaded the bike from a gas-guzzling, armor-plated SUV that had driven him most of the way. Buttigieg brushed aside criticism of...

North Korea has axed its spy chief as well as the long-running head of Kim Jong Un’s security — signs of a major shakeup during the ongoing mystery over the dictator’s status. Jang Kil Song was ousted as head of the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), the North’s military intelligence agency, according to the Korea Herald, citing a report by South Korea’s Unification Ministry. The RGB is behind the Hermit Kingdom’s most high-profile attacks as well as spy missions, including those against the US, the report says.

American prosecutors have dropped charges against 11 members of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s guards who were accused of attacking peaceful protestors in Washington in 2017. According to a report by Wall Street Journal, prosecutors asked judges to drop charges against four guards in November. Then they dropped charges against seven others on February 14, the day before State of Secretary Rex Tillerson’s visit to Turkey. A source told WSJ that Tillerson, in his private talks with Turkish leaders, pointed to the decisions to drop charges—which hadn’t been publicized or announced—as an example of how the U.S. had addressed Mr. Erdogan’s...

Michael Rubin stated that the arrest warrant issued for former minister Zafer Çağlayan could be a sign that Zarrab is talking to prosecutors and giving evidence. Michael Rubin, academic and former staff advisor for Iran and Iraq at the Pentagon, spoke to ANF English service on the inclusion of one of Erdoğan’s former ministers, Zafer Çağlayan, in the case file of Reza Zarrab, its influence on Zarrab’s case and Washington-Ankara relations, and Erdoğan’s planned visit to the U.S. in mid-September. Rubin remarked that the arrest warrant issued for Zafer Çağlayan could be a sign that Zarrab is talking to prosecutors...

Turkey didn't specify the actions by U.S. security officials it deemed inappropriate. Video from the scene had showed U.S. police struggling to protect protesters, and two Turkish bodyguards were briefly detained after the incident. They were then set free and returned to Turkey. In the meeting with Turkey's Foreign Ministry in Ankara, U.S. Ambassador John Bass said the security personnel's behavior contradicted U.S. laws and protected speech and assembly rights, according to a senior U.S. State Department official.

Donald Trump ; If Hillary Clinton Hates Guns Take Bodyguards Away and Let’s See What Happens to Her

When Ted Cruz visited Glenn’s house on Tuesday, Glenn took the opportunity to thank Cruz’s security detail for the job they’re doing, keeping the presidential candidate safe. Then, he put them on the spot with a question only they could answer. “Is he the real deal behind the curtain?” Glenn asked. Having a personal security detail himself, Glenn is well accustomed to situations where the most private moments are on full display to bodyguards. Glenn elaborated during his radio program on Wednesday. “You want to know who I am, you talk to my security detail,” Glenn said. “They know me...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has brought conspiracy charges against a Yemeni man and a Sudanese man, both described as having close ties to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), making them the first Guantanamo Bay prisoners to face criminal charges, the Pentagon (news - web sites) said on Tuesday. The Defense Department said Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul of Yemen and Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi of Sudan were charged with a single count each of conspiracy to commit war crimes and will be brought to trial before a military tribunal. Pentagon spokesman...

One booming business in Silicon Valley is security — but not the digital kind. Insiders tell Page Six that the young tech billionaires are forced to hire armies of guards after threats from unstable users [emphasis mine].

The Donald gave a wide ranging interview to The Hill yesterday which was particularly notable for one comment he made about the Secret Service. Since he’s the frontrunner by a wide margin, where is his detail? Donald Trump on Tuesday said the Secret Service should be giving him protection — and he suggested partisan politics might be why the agency isn’t providing it. In a 90-minute interview with The Hill, the Republican presidential front-runner pointed out that he has attracted large crowds just like Barack Obama did eight years ago as a White House candidate and that by this point...

Sure, Sarah Palin can be quick to pounce when something rubs her wrong. But when Michael Moore and others take after the man behind box-office hit American Sniper it gets personal. "You're not fit to shine Chris Kyle's combat boots," the former Alaska governor and VP candidate wrote on her Facebook page Monday night after Moore, the liberal filmmaker, Tweeted that "snipers aren't heroes" – which many took as a reference to the Clint Eastwood film starring Bradley Cooper. It turns out that Palin and Kyle were friends. They met and bonded in 2011, when the retired Navy SEAL was...

A UK man held hostage in Iraq for more than two-and-a-half years has revealed harrowing details of the torture meted out to him by his captors. In media interviews two months after his release, Peter Moore told how he was subject to mock executions and hung from a door by his arms as a punishment. The computer expert was released unharmed in December after 31 months in captivity during which all four of his bodyguards - abducted with him - are thought to have been killed. Moore, 36, told The Times newspaper how guards put a gun to his head...

Homeland prepares budget cuts, up to 1,000 furloughs at Secret Service • As many as 1,000 Secret Service agents, officers and workers could be furloughed as Homeland Security prepares for sequestration Bracing for the possibility of budget sequestration next month, the Homeland Security Department is making plans to furlough as many as 1,000 Secret Service agents, officers and others employees, officials say. Homeland Security issued its first agency-wide memorandum late last week preparing for sequestration, the sweeping automatic budget cuts set to take effect as early as March 1 under a prior deal between the White House and Congress to...

President Shimon Peres' bodyguards were involved in an altercation with three Arabs Sunday evening, Channel 2 television reported. The reason for the fight is not yet clear. The incident reportedly took place outside Peres' temporary residence at Kfar David (Mamila) in Jerusalem. The president had to leave his permanent residence about six weeks ago, because of damage caused by flooding due to heavy rains. .....

With Moammar Gadhafi in hiding as coalition aircraft bomb his country, he's counting on protection from a unique bodyguard corps he's been training for decades -- an all-female, gun-toting posse of virgins. About 40 lipsticked, bejeweled bodyguards surround the Libyan dictator at all times. They wear designer sunglasses and high heels with their military camouflage. But they're purported to be trained killers -- graduates of an elite military academy in Tripoli that's solely for women. Gadhafi established the Tripoli Women's Military Academy in 1979 as a symbol of women's emancipation. "I promised my mother to improve the situation of women...

Sarah Palin should receive immediate Secret Service Protection if she runs for President.            Jesse Jackson got early Secret Service protection when he ran for President. Obama asked for and got early Secret Service protection  in the last election. They should do the same for Sarah Palin.  Do I think there is a great risk to her life? Yes I do. I used to worry about it a little. But now I worry about it a lot.  Top people in the Democratic Party and the media  were quick to call Palin a racist during the last election.  And that planted...

The wife of Ground Zero mosque developer, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, says she and her husband are receiving death threats, the AP reported today: "For the record, my life is under threat," Daisy Khan said Sunday during a town hall debate on Islam broadcast on ABC's "This Week" news program. Khan said her husband's life also is under threat but, "We do not walk around with bodyguards because we love this country." It goes without saying that any U.S. citizen who issues death threats to another individual deserves to be punished to the full extent of the law. However, there...

Whoever said it's lonely at the top, it wasn't Bill Clinton. The former President is constantly surrounded by an entourage of more than 20 bodyguards. So when he attended a book signing in London on Thursday, he brought a crowd of his own. The one-time US leader looked like he was auditioning for a part in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. The burly men in suits fanned out around 61-year-old Mr Clinton as he went window shopping in Jermyn Street before arriving at the Piccadilly branch of Waterstone's. Fortunately for the former resident of the White House, they turned out to...

The Secret Service said Thursday that Democratic Sen. Barack Obama was being placed under its protection, the earliest ever for a presidential candidate. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff authorized Obama's protection after consultations with the bipartisan congressional advisory committee, according to Chertoff spokesman Russ Knocke and the Secret Service. Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren would not provide details of what led to the extra security, but said, ``I'm not aware it was based on any threat.'' Department of Homeland Security officials said there were no known threats. Obama's rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, has a Secret Service detail...