Free Republic

Israel and the United Arab Emirates reached a historic peace deal on Thursday that will lead to a full normalization of diplomatic relations between the two Middle Eastern nations in an agreement that U.S. President Donald Trump helped broker. Under the agreement, Israel has agreed to suspend applying sovereignty to areas of the West Bank that it has been discussing annexing, senior White House officials told Reuters. The peace deal was the product of lengthy discussions between Israel, the UAE and the United States that accelerated recently, White House officials said. The agreement was sealed in a phone call on...

TikTok said on Thursday that it will set up its first European data center in Ireland. The announcement comes amid increasing scrutiny over the video app’s privacy and security risks. U.S. President Donald Trump, citing national security concerns, on July 31 gave TikTok’s owner, Beijing-based internet giant Bytedance Technology, an ultimatum: either sell TikTok’s U.S. operations to Microsoft or any other U.S. company by Sept. 15, or get banned in the United States. Until recently, TikTok Inc., the company’s U.S. entity, was the official data controller of TikTok. After July 29, the service provider for European Economic Area (EEA)-Swiss users...

After vowing to ban the popular short-video sharing app TikTok in the United States on Friday, the US president is reportedly weighing the advantages of allowing Microsoft to purchase its US operations. Such shilly-shallying is a tactic the US administration employed during the trade deal negotiations with China. The tactic involves the president promising punishment for some perceived wrongdoing, followed by indications from other administration officials that the punishment might not be forthcoming. This is followed soon after by some close to the president saying that he intends to make good on his threat, sparking a sharp rise in tensions...

Stingrays are routinely used to target suspects in drug and other criminal investigations, but activists also believe the devices were used during protests against the Dakota Access pipeline, and against Black Lives Matter protesters over the last three months. The Justice Department requires federal agents to obtain a probable cause warrant to use the technology in criminal cases, but there is a carve-out for national security. Given that President Donald Trump has referred to protesters as “terrorists,” and that paramilitary-style officers from the Department of Homeland Security have been deployed to the streets of Portland, Oregon, it’s conceivable that surveillance...

In May we reported on our concerns with contact tracing and our loss of freedom as a result of this practice. We reported that contact tracers will track you and tell you what you can and cannot do. You will be a puppet of the state. You must do what they say for the greater good. Freedom will be lost forever. We reported that Democrat states were promoting the idea of “contact tracing” and when you realize what it is, you will think you are living in Orwell’s 1984. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot cheered the news that Chicago was...

More than 100 law enforcement agencies have reportedly pulled out of security agreements to send personnel to help with security at the Democratic National Convention next month in part because they are concerned about recent efforts to limit law enforcement’s use of tear gas and pepper spray in responding to violent riots. Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales was ordered last month to change the department’s policies to ban the use of tear gas and pepper spray.

Amazon has asked its employees to delete the Chinese-owned video app TikTok from their cellphones, citing “security risks,” according to a company email sent on Friday. In the email, which was obtained by The New York Times, Amazon officials said that employees must delete the app from any devices that “access Amazon email.” Employees had to remove the app by Friday to remain able to obtain mobile access to their Amazon email, the note said. Amazon workers are still allowed to view TikTok from their laptop browser, the company added. Amazon and TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for...

The Republic Of Indonesia is a profoundly religious country frequently underestimated and maligned in the West. It is a multiparty democracy with a strong commitment to freedom. This commitment is best symbolised by the way the country stops every 17th August to remember its birth in 1945 when Japanese power collapsed at the end of World War Two. My dad was there then in the field ambulance of the Australian 2nd 14th Battalion implementing Douglas MacArthur’s operation Oboe. Dad saw his friends die under Japanese fire on the beach of Balikpapan. He never forgot it and dedicated the rest of...

The COVID-19 virus is remaking society in ways both large and small. Did we all shake our last hand in March, for example? How many people, now that their employers have them working from home, will be willing to endure the daily grind of a commute when they’ve seen how life is like away from the cubicle farm? Also, will we ever again be willing to join a long, tightly packed line or bunch up in front of a TSA security checkpoint? Let’s not forget, as well, the TSA security screening process, one in which you and your luggage may...

Voters worry about their safety more these days and have more confidence in Joe Biden than President Trump to make things better. But once again party affiliation makes a big difference. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 52% of Likely U.S. Voters feel personally less safe than they did four years ago. Nineteen percent (19%) feel more safe now, while 26% say their feeling of personal safety is about the same. (To see survey question wording, click here.) Forty-nine percent (49%) of all voters believe Biden, the putative Democratic presidential nominee, will make America a...

A group of wealthy celebrities requesting the abolition of something they donÂ’t even need is disingenuous at best, callous at worst. The Black Lives Matter movement seeks to counter the systemic racism they believe is foundational in American culture with a systemic solution: defunding the police. The calls to defund the police have reached the ears of every elected official, from local levels up to the federal executive. Now, the cries from the street are being echoed by celebrities.A group of some of the most notable black artists in America have penned a letter to studios and Hollywood executives demanding...

Seattle’s taking a page from the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina. When half of the New Orleans Police Department walked off the job before and after Katrina, private security firms answered the call. Today, Seattle’s swells, who cheered on anti-police protesters from their high-rises and Madrona manses, are doing the same thing. With apologies to “Top Gun,” the Seattle elite’s egos are writing checks the rest of us poor schmucks have to pay.Business owners, afraid that Mayor Jenny Durkan will continue to let the rioters go buck wild while simultaneously standing down the cops, are hiring private security at a...

A security guard at Aqueduct Racetrack was charged Monday as the “inside man” in the armed heist of more than $280,000 in gamblers’ lost wagers — as the feds alleged that he was busted with one of the crooks in another robbery more than 20 years ago. Lafayette Morrison was charged with providing Lamel Miller and another accomplice with information about when and where the money would be taken to the vault at the Queens racetrack following the lucrative “Gotham Day” races on March 7.

After peaceful protests of the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd were marred by widespread vandalism and looting, city officials announced they would pay up to $1.2 million to three private security firms to avoid a repeat of last weekend’s mayhem. Over 100 private security guards from Monterrey Security, AGB Investigative Services and Illinois Security Professionals will be dispatched to retail corridors across the city - with a particular focus on the South and West sides, city officials said. The private guards will not be armed and will not have police powers, but are meant to be “another set of...

Yesterday I had no problem accessing Free Republic. Today after a Microsoft update all of my browsers say Free Republic is not secure and I have to go through a few clicks to convince my browsers that I really want to see FR anyway. Anyone else seeing this? Also, the 2004 build was installed on my computer last night.

The Washington Post is reporting that Trump and his family were “rushed” to the bunker beneath the White House Friday after some protesters breached a fence outside. The security move came after multiple people crossed over fences that had been erected to create a larger barrier around the White House complex around 7 p.m.Secret Service officers detained at least four protesters, who were charged with unlawful entry at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, according to arrest records. The incident took place near the border between the White House lawn and Treasury Department, about 350 feet from the East Wing, and close...

BREAKING: The Minneapolis Public Schools board has voted unanimously to terminate their contract with the Minneapolis Police Department. - KARE

Last week, Florida narrowly dodged a mass casualty terror attack when the FBI arrested a convicted jihadist who had recently completed a prison sentence and used his new freedom to plot. The FBI’s May 23 arrest of Tampa resident and U.S. citizen Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari undoubtedly averted a terrible massacre, one he planned to model after the June 2016 Pulse Nightclub killing of 49 mostly gay patrons by his jihadist hero Omar Mateen. But blood that is spared, just as much as blood actually spilled, should be sufficient to finally push Congress and the White House to address the recidivism...

In times of war and peace alike, on land, at sea, in the skies, in cyberspace, and beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, the men and women of our Nation’s Armed Forces serve with honor and distinction and stand ready to selflessly defend our Nation.  On Armed Forces Day, we pay tribute to these patriots, whose work enables our country to shine always as a beacon of freedom and hope for the world.Throughout our Nation’s history, our Armed Forces have protected our country, our liberty, and our founding principles.  Earlier this month, we marked the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, when United...

Restaurants in Washington state will be required to keep a log of each dine-in customer to facilitate contact tracing during phase two of the state's coronavirus reopening plans. As part of the requirements, the log must be maintained for 30 days and must include each customer's telephone number and email address, and what time they came in to eat, according to officials.