Free Republic

Who read Free Republic? Apparently the U.S. Secret Service does!This past weekend, I posted an article alerting the Secret Service that members of the terrorist supporting group Code Pink were using fake presses to gain access to events headlined by Secret Service protectees like presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (AZ).This morning, McCain spoke at the LULAC convention in Washington, D.C. Usually when he speaks at an event in D.C., McCain can expect to have his speech disrupted by Code Pink activists who rush the stage and heckle him from the audience and the press section.That didn't happen today....

The Secret Service, mindful of the historic presidential candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and the threat of terrorists striking high-profile targets, is providing the earliest and most expensive day-to-day protection for the major presidential candidates and their spouses in U.S. history. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, who authorized the protection, said plainclothes Secret Service agents, drawn from a pool of 3,300, backed by some of the 6,500 uniformed Secret Service officers, are providing candidates "the protection they need" during the protracted presidential campaign. Candidates are not entitled to U.S. Secret Service protection by law until 120 days before...

New York, Apr 13, 2008 / 02:28 am (CNA).- Massive security operations will protect Pope Benedict XVI in his visit to New York City, including bomb-sniffing dogs, rooftop snipers and hovering helicopters, CBS News reports. "The closer you are to those locations, the more you are going to feel the effects of it," said NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly.A reporter asked Kelly if the security for the visit will be like a United Nations General Assembly, followed by a parade, followed by a presidential visit, Kelly said “yes.”On Friday the Pope’s visits to the United Nations, the Park East Synagogue,...

WASHINGTON, May 9 (UPI) -- Supervisors in the U.S. Secret Service exchanged e-mails with racist jokes, some of them sexual, a document filed in federal court Friday said. The filing came in a discrimination lawsuit filed in 2000 by 10 black Secret Service agents, The New York Times reported.

Honestly, this is one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen. The DVD and music-sharing website World Star Hip Hop is currently featuring a video of what appears to be an elementary school student threatening to kill President George W. Bush.

** EXCERPT ** Two State Department employees were fired recently and a third disciplined for improperly accessing electronic personal data on Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, Bush administration officials said yesterday. ~snip~ A similar data breach took place in 1992 when State Department officials looked up data on presidential candidate Bill Clinton, in an attempt to find out information from the late 1960s, amid unfounded political campaign rumors that Mr. Clinton had sought to renounce his citizenship to dodge the draft during the Vietnam War while a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. That incident triggered a three-year investigation by a...

A Texas state Capitol employee who police said wanted to go in the building Friday before a rally by presidential candidate Barack Obama threw a bowl of egg salad at a U.S. Secret Service agent who denied her access, according to an arrest affidavit. Tracy Firsching, 47, is charged with assault on a peace officer, a third-degree felony for which she faces up to 10 years in prison. According to the affidavit, Firsching started to go around police barriers when she was stopped by Secret Service agent Brian Sanders, who told her that she could not go in the secured...

DALLAS -- Security details at Barack Obama's rally Wednesday stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena.The order to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and laptop bags came as a surprise to several Dallas police officers who said they believed it was a lapse in security.Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, head of the Police Department's homeland security and special operations divisions, said the order -- apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service -- was meant to speed up the...

Floyd M. Boring, a Secret Service agent who guarded five presidents and took part in the gunfight that foiled an attempt by Puerto Rican nationalists to assassinate President Harry S. Truman, died Friday at his home in Silver Spring, Md. He was 92. His death was confirmed by the Collins Funeral Home of Silver Spring. On the afternoon of Nov. 1, 1950, Truman was taking a nap at Blair House, where he was living while the White House, across Pennsylvania Avenue, was being renovated. Boring was stationed outside Blair House with several uniformed White House guards, while two Secret Service...

DENVER -- No one can agree on what exactly happened the day a Colorado man spotted Dick Cheney strolling the streets of a ski resort town and decided to give the vice president a piece of his mind. Steve Howards, 55, says he walked up to Cheney and delivered his message -- "Your policies in Iraq are disgusting" -- then lightly touched the vice president's shoulder. The White House photographer says he saw Howards slap Cheney on the back. Cheney's personal aide remembers Howards placing his hand on Cheney's arm and shaking his hand. As for the Secret Service agents...

Brattleboro Town Officials Harassed Over Bush-Cheney Arrest Petition BRATTLEBORO, Vt. -- Town officials in Brattleboro are being inundated with complaints from across the country about a decision to let voters decide whether arrest warrants should be issued for President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Town Clerk Annette Cappy said the "nastiness" of the calls prompted the town office to stop answering its phones Monday. One message from a Minnesota man said he'd like to see terrorists cut off the heads of some Brattleboro officials. Brattleboro police said they will prosecute anyone whose messages cross the line and...

Much has been made in the past about how poorly the Clinton's got alond with their Secret Service detail while the Bush's got along well with their agents. Now that Obama is under the protection of Secret Service agents, I was wondering if anyone had heard anything about how he ineracts with them.

Four cardinal principles of security violated, say Indian experts Praveen Swami New Delhi: While Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Mahmud Ali Durrani, maintains that Pervez Musharraf’s government provided “unprecedented security” to Benazir Bhutto, Indian security experts disagree. Speaking to The Hindu, a senior Special Protection Group official who reviewed available footage of the attack described Ms. Bhutto’s security as “dismal, almost as bad as if it was designed to facilitate her assassination.” Set up in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s assassination, the elite SPG provides security to both serving and past Indian Prime Ministers and their families. e-mail to...

YOU WILL FIND THE SECRET SERVICE VIEWS ON THE PERSONALITIES OF PAST PRESIDENTS TO BE QUITE INTERESTING. For those who don't know... Capt. Denny Keast flies for UAL and flew many SAM's (Special Air Mission's) for the White House. Some of us flew these Presidential Support Mission. The only thing they left out was the pain in the ass communication people..........Shem I flew 4 Presidential support missions in the C-141 out of Dover AFB, DE.. Two for President Johnson and two for President Nixon. Johnson was a first class jerk and on the two occasions I flew for him, if...

No politician of recent decades could match the Clintons for sheer audacity and brazenness. Time and again, they appear in front of the cameras to declare an alternative reality, which Americans are then supposed to accept, based solely on the volume with which the Clintons shout its existence. Hillary’s outrageous new campaign ad, which recently began airing in Iowa, stands as the latest example of the relentless and despicable Clinton political strategy. In her ad, she seeks to sound alarms with the message "As I travel around America, I hear from so many people who feel like they’re just invisible...

OTTUMWA, IA -- Iowa police arrested a man outside the hotel where Barack Obama spent Tuesday night after the man was confronted by Obama's Secret Service detail. Ottumwa Police Lieutenant Tom McAndrew said Davit Zakaryan, of Cincinnati, Oh., was charged with illegally possessing a concealed knife more than 8 inches long after he was arrested for failing to produce a drivers license Wednesday morning. "We have no reason to think he was a threat at all," Lt. McAndrew said. Zakaryan, 24, in a white undershirt, was pacing outside his small, black car with Ohio license plates when Obama's security detail...

TSA Officers Hassle Female Passenger over Sippy Cup?Watch the actual surveillance from Reagan National Airport. Decide for yourself! YouTube Video online.

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...

The Prince of Wales was a "most likeable person", President Gaddafi a "mad clown" and Michael Jackson was "surprisingly shy". The private diaries of Ronald Reagan, which are about to be published for the first time, reveal a US president who was worried about imminent Armageddon but who also fretted about how he would handle chopsticks in front of the Chinese. The man who was credited with ending the Cold War reveals that he was "lonesome" when his wife, Nancy, was away and refused to talk to their son, Ron Junior, after he hung up on him. His carefully handwritten...

ONTARIO - A Chaffey College student is in federal custody after trying to gain entry to the Ontario International Airport airfield and posing as a Secret Service agent. Federal prosecutors have charged Mostafa Mansoori of Rancho Cucamonga, 20, with making false statements and attempting entry to a secure airport area by false pretenses, court documents show. The Ontario Airport Police Department on Monday detained Mansoori, who said he was "on a protective assignment for President Bush," and then notified the Secret Service, which is conducting an investigation. "The fact that the individual was caught and didn't gain access is the...

Barbara Walters just told her viewers (on her morning liberal talk show THE VIEW) about how George Bush made her mad because she was not able to cross a street in New York due to barriers in place for the President to pass through NY. An officer recognized Walters, but told her she had to wait just like other people for the President to pass before she could cross. She was there for 15 minutes when she and others crossed anyway. She then said the President is not a King and that she didn't much like President Bush anyway. End...

Secret Service agents have questioned an Alameda man about a display in his front yard featuring a cardboard cutout of President Bush with a knife through his head. Michael McDonald said he was grilled for about 90 minutes by two agents who asked about his personal history and his political views. They also asked him to allow access to his medical records, he said. The cutout also shows painted blood running over the president's eyes and down the bridge of his nose. McDonald said the federal agents asked if he interpreted his work as a threat against the country's chief...

Technology has made a prank call or untraceable e-mail all but impossible. And threatening a federal official, by word or symbol, is no longer dismissed as idle chatter these days. Alameda artist Michael McDonald is living proof of that. He has displayed a new piece of political artwork in his yard each month for the past decade and it earned him a visit from Secret Service agents last week. His creations, McDonald says, are sometimes extreme, but they're always relevant. Over the years, he's created many pieces, including profane responses to Vice President Dick Cheney's verbal assault on Sen. Patrick...

In a recent hand-scribbled note, President Bush insisted he is not giving much thought to life after the White House. "Thanks for 'Second Acts' and your very kind letter," he said in a letter to Mark Updegrove, author of a new book about post-presidential life. "I'm not quite ready to take the stage for the 2nd act. After a two-year sprint, then I'll take the lessons of your book to heart." Bush might not be thinking about the next act, but planners are. And they foresee an unprecedented post-presidency, due largely to the war. The White House sought $5 million...

An off-duty Secret Service agent was shot after intervening in a fight in a shopping mall food court Saturday evening, and he returned fire, wounding the shooter, police said. A third person was also shot in the melee, and all were hospitalized in stable condition late Saturday, said officer Sara Schriver, an Anne Arundel County police spokeswoman. The agent was at the Westfield Annapolis mall with his family shortly after 7 p.m. when he saw a group of men attacking another man, Schriver said. "They all just started attacking one individual ... physically assaulting him, punching him," she said. The...

First Daughter Barbara Bush had her purse and cell phone stolen as she had dinner in a restaurant in Buenos Aires, Argentina, even though she was being guarded by a detail of Secret Service agents, according to law enforcement reports made available to ABC News. It was not the only mishap on the two-week trip to Argentina by Barbara (right) and her twin sister Jenna (left). A Secret Service agent on the advance detail got into an "altercation" with someone after a night out and was badly beaten, according to the law enforcement reports. The Secret Service said today the...

FREEDOM OF SPEECH: Steve Howards, 54, and his wife were walking their son to piano practice in Beaver Creek, Colo., and were surprised to see Vice President Dick Cheney on the street chatting with citizens. "Many of us fantasize what would we do if we had the opportunity to really tell Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney how we feel," Howards said, so as he passed by he told Cheney, "I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible." After dropping off his son, a Secret Service agent approached Howards and asked, "Did you assault the vice president?" Howards said no, and...

On my trips to DU, I've read calls for revolution, sedition, and yes, threats. and now Skinner has had a personal visit from the SS! But he will not cooperate in any investigation against those who made threats against the President. Even though he says they were banned last week, Skinner will protect their identities if he can... In all fairness, the SS asked for identifying info without a warrant. But they did ask nicely! Skinner doesn't want to give then any information even with a warrant, which is now in the works. Methinks the great Mucky-muck Skinner will fold...

In a posting by the #1 idiot (David Allen - AKA Skinner) over at Dark Underworld, he advises his fellow kool-aid drinkers that they have had two inquiries by the Secret Service earlier today. As someone who occasionally strolls by their web site for a few gut-busting laughs, I'm not suprised comments on their site would arouse the attention of the boys in black. Here's a snip from his post to their members...In the five-plus years since Democratic Underground was started, we have had legal issues arise on a fairly regular basis (Not surprising). When that happens, we almost never...

[... snip ...] Attorney David Lane said that on June 16, Steve Howards was walking his 7-year-old son to a piano practice, when he saw Cheney surrounded by a group of people in an outdoor mall area, shaking hands and posing for pictures with several people. According to the lawsuit filed at U.S. District Court in Denver, Howards and his son walked to about two-to-three feet from where Cheney was standing, and said to the vice president, "I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible," or words to that effect, then walked on. Ten minutes later, according to Howards' lawsuit,...

Bill Maher Tees Up Sen. John Kerry's Virulent Anti-Republican Campaign Speech Posted by Noel Sheppard on October 8, 2006 - 14:59. It goes without saying that HBO’s Bill Maher is no journalist. However, it doesn’t seem to be asking too much of the comedian turned political pundit in his own mind to exhibit some degree of impartiality when interviewing current members of Congress and former presidential candidates, especially four weeks before a major election. Sadly, that appears not to be important to Maher, who like his compatriot on MSNBC, has become an unashamed, predictable hatchet-man for the left. As a...

We had a neighbor, when I lived in DC, who was part of the secret service presidential detail for many years. His stories of Kennedy and Johnson were the same as those I heard from the guys who flew the presidents' plane. Yes, Kennedy did have Marilyn Monroe flown in for secret "dates," and LBJ was a typical Texas "good ole boy" womanizer. Nixon, Bush 41, and Carter never cheated on their wives. Clinton cheated, but couldn't match Kennedy or LBJ in style or variety. The information below is accurate: The elder Bush and current President Bush make it a...

The economy's growth has never before been so driven by real estate. Now that engine is sputtering. Jiany Massad isn't quite ready to throw in the towel on his fledgling career as a Miami real-estate tycoon. But if the local housing market continues to head south, the 30-year-old real-estate broker is already making alternate plans. "I might restart my old business," he says of a home decorating company that specialized in high-end window treatments. "At least it's real-estate-related." With home sales down by nearly a third in Florida last quarter, thousands of those who hoped to cash in on the...

When Jesus was living, he did not align himself with the Jewish religious parties, then called Saducees and Pharisees, nor the secular authorities: King Herod and Rome. He obeyed the Mosaic law and even paid tribute. He told Nicodemus, an old man that he had to be born again to be saved. Jesus meant born spiritually. Jesus preached that this spiritual new baby would be then, dead to the world, living in the world but not of it. He pointed out that worrying about the future was not what a Christian would be doing because tomorrow has enough worries to...

Let me go on record as saying I like Hyundai. For the record, I personally own a Sonata, and it's a great car. That said, will someone from Hyundai's advertising department kindly explain what you were thinking when you authorized the latest commercial for the 2006 Sonata? "Rethink Everything" involves the concept of the Hyundai Sonata turning the world upside down. You can access the commercial online with this URL: http://www.studiodaily.com/filmandvideo/projects/f/commercials/6702.html The spot starts out innocuously enough: a rather cliche scene of a Sonata cruising along a city street. Quickly the spot kicks into high gear: An office located in...

I think the latest commercial for the Huyndai Sonata speaks for itself, and you can access it online using the URL: http://www.studiodaily.com/filmandvideo/projects/f/commercials/6702.html . So the quuestion is, "Why is Hyundai using imagery remisiscent of 911 to help sell cars"?

Former Soviet bloc still struggling to open communist-era files to the public By William J. Kole ASSOCIATED PRESS 9:26 a.m. August 19, 2006 VIENNA, Austria – Politicians' phones were tapped. Dissidents were shadowed around town, and ordinary citizens worried they were being watched every time a neighbor's curtains cracked open. Today the democratic governments that replaced Europe's Soviet-era dictatorships are still struggling to deal with the vast archives of secrets, gossip and dirt accumulated by the secret police forces. From the Baltic States to Romania, initiatives are under way to open the files to the public, but have run into...

This is different. This post isn't about what I have gleemed from some 'news-source' today. This post is about HOW do you convince your friends, your family .. your loved ones that "There Is A Crisis" in America and that this crisis continues to grow, each and every day..regardless of whether they believe it or not! The only thing that any of them believe in is: Our Government. I would like to give you the whole story, how I have tried and finally given up, given up in trying to convince my family, my loved ones that we are at...

Fox News just broke with a "snippet" that a woman (who is in custody) tried to ingite a small explosive, according to Uniformed Secret Service and either place it or throw it at the White House. She was taken into custody.

WASHINGTON - The Secret Service on Friday revealed four more visits to the White House in 2001 by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, including one to see a domestic policy aide to Vice President Dick Cheney. The newly released records of Abramoff's access to the White House bring the total number of his known visits to seven. One Abramoff White House visit, according to Secret Service logs, was on April 20, 2001, to see Cesar Conda, at the time Cheney's assistant for domestic policy. Five days after the Conda meeting, one of Abramoff's former lobbying colleagues, Patrick Pizzella, was nominated by...

Camera With Pitt-Jolie Photos Is Seized Police in this western Massachusetts town say they have seized a digital camera with images of celebrity couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Africa for an investigation by Los Angeles authorities. Local police, accompanied by state police and Secret Service officers, went to the Westfield home of William Keys on Tuesday to recover a digital camera's memory stick after three photos that appeared on the Internet were tracked to Keys, police said Friday. Officers then went to Precision Camera and Video Repair in Enfield, Conn., where Keys works, and recovered the camera. It...

Earlier tonight, I went to the cheap theatres and saw "The Sentinel". I thought it was OK. Not as good as I was hoping for. Have any of you seen it? If you have, what did you think? Opinions or comments - anyone?

As WorldNetDaily reported, the controversy began Friday when the agents visited the Great News Network in Denton, Texas, and threatened to arrest staffer Tim Crawford for hiding evidence in a counterfeiting investigation. The agents took 8,300 tracts and left their business cards and a receipt. The Christian group argues, however, that "million-dollar" bills can't be counterfeited because they don't exist, and the tracts – which include a "not legal tender" disclaimer on the front – present the Christian salvation message on the opposite side. The gospel tracts are produced by evangelist Ray Comfort, who told WND yesterday his Living Waters...

Bogus $1 million bills handed out by ministry seizedDenton: Group's leader says Secret Service overzealous05:33 AM CDT on Tuesday, June 6, 2006By DONNA FIELDER / Denton Record-Chronicle DENTON – The U.S. Secret Service has seized bogus $1 million bills printed as religious tracts from a Denton ministry, saying the bills too closely resemble real money. *snip* Federal statutes govern production of anything that resembles currency, said Bill Flowers, assistant agent in charge of the Dallas office of the U.S. Secret Service. *snip* It is not necessary to intend to defraud someone to run afoul of federal law when making currency...

Secret Service Agents Seize Ray Comfort Tracts Press Release On June 1st, 2006, Secret Service agents showed up at the office of Great News Network in Dallas, Texas and demanded their entire stock of $1 million dollar gospel tracts that are produced by Ray Comfort’s ministry, Living Waters. The tracts are used by Ray Comfort and his co-host Kirk Cameron and have been promoted on their national television program. Reports were that the Secret Service was going to pay a visit to Comfort’s national offices in Bellflower, California and confiscate their entire stock. Apparently someone in North Carolina took one...

NEW YORK--New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi is in hot water for making remarks about "putting a bullet between the president's eyes" a day after promising that fellow democrats would “murder” republicans.According to WNBC, Hevesi, a democrat, was speaking at the Queens College commencement at the time of the remarks, along with U.S. Senator Charles “Chuck” Schumer.A member of the audience, blogging at Free Republic, reports that Hevesi, referring to Schumer, said the Senator would "put a bullet between the President's eyes if he could get away with it." There were a fair number of gasps…It slightly seemed that he...

19-year-old threatened Bush's life, created phony Secret Service IDs... A teenager who was charged last year with threatening the lives of President George W. Bush and other federal officials has again been arrested, this time for manufacturing bogus U.S Secret Service credentials. Acting on an anonymous telephone tip, federal agents yesterday arrested Peter Bonfiglio, 19, at the New York City residence he shares with his grandparents. According to a federal criminal complaint, a copy of which you can find below, Bonfiglio admitted to manufacturing and selling the Secret Service IDs and even showed agents the computer and printer he was...

DENVER -- Passengers aboard a United Airlines flight had some help when they had to take matters into their own hands to prevent Jose Manuel Pelayo-Ortega from bringing their plane down. Three Secret Service agents headed west to join President Bush's entourage joined with passengers to subdue Pelayo-Ortega when he tried to open one of the doors on the Airbus A-320. "Had he opened the door, we'd all be dead," passenger Donna Bell of Visalia, Calif., told the Sacramento Bee after the plane was searched and allowed to continue westward. Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahensaid three agents between assignments help...

FLORENCE, Ky. - He said it was a prank gone wrong, but police are taking a 13-year-old student's alleged threats against the president very seriously. Authorities have charged the teen with terroristic threatening, a felony. The Ockerman Middle School student is accused of making threats against the city of Florence and the president of the United States in e-mails he allegedly sent to city officials, police said. Principal David Claggett told News 5 that the teen claimed the e-mails were just a joke. "He said, 'Well, I was just messing around, just kidding around. I wasn't really serious about it,'"...

Police Uncover Credit Card-Skimming Scheme Secret Service Leads Investigation POSTED: 6:52 am EST March 24, 2006 Email This Story | Print This Story WASHINGTON -- Restaurants in the D.C. metropolitan area are working with Secret Service agents to shut down a credit card-skimming scheme, and authorities said each business was hit from the inside. Managers at the DuClaw Brewing Company and Pizzeria Uno at the Bowie Town Center in Bowie, Md., Jasper's in Largo, Md., and the Red, Hot and Blue restaurant in Arlington, Va., had no idea their customers were being victimized. Authorities said a network of waiters working...