Free Republic

These emails were not about Benghazi.... Wow. So, we now have the official story. The formerly redacted emails released yesterday were not about Benghazi. They were never intended to shed light on the consulate attack. They were simply about "the broader situation in the middle east." We learned this yesterday, when ABC News' Jon Karl went to war with Press Secretary Jay Carney. Keep in mind, that's an ABC News reporter. Like Ron Fournier before him, leftist progs can't label him a right wing hack, and they can't start yapping about FOX News. Every network news outlet was lied to,...

Video at Link On Tuesday's CBS This Morning, co-host Charlie Rose provided viewers with a mere 30-second news brief on Secretary of State John Kerry sparking a "storm of criticism" by claiming that Israel would become an "apartheid state" if it did not accept a two-state solution with Palestine: "Secretary of State John Kerry's backtracking after controversial comments about Israel....Kerry released a statement last night saying, quote, 'If I could rewind the tape, I would have chosen a different word.' Kerry says he's been a staunch supporter of Israel for years.'" [Listen to the audio] That quick mention of the...

George Stephanopoulos, the co-anchor of "Good Morning America" and principal host of "This Week," has renewed his contract with ABC News, a network spokesperson confirmed on Thursday. The contract, which network sources described as long term, will see Stephanopoulos remaining at the helm of both programs, even as he dials back his hosting duties on the Sunday program. The news was first reported by TVNewser. "We expect him to remain with us for many, many years," Heather Riley, an ABC News spokesperson, told POLITICO. "This represents what he wanted – he is commited to GMA and This Week and understands...

On Wednesday Darrell Issa demanded Attorney General Eric Holder answer new questions about the Justice Department’s role in the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups. In a letter sent to Holder, Issa sought answers about a newly released email between former IRS official Lois Lerner and DOJ official Richard Pilger in which Pilger asks Lerner “When you have a moment, will you call me? I’ve been asked to run something by you” and requests who at the IRS “DOJ folks could talk to” about ways to target politically involved non-profit groups. So far none of the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC)...

The showdown between federal authorities and rancher Cliven Bundy, his family and supporters in Nevada is one of those rare topics from the libertarian-conservative news agenda that actually made its way into the establishment media. Between last Thursday and Monday, ABC, CBS and NBC gave the story a total of nearly 16 minutes of coverage on their morning and evening newscasts. Network journalists have consistently framed the case as one of a rancher failing to pay the requested fees for his use of government land. But they have failed to use the case to tell the larger story of how...

On April 1, Washington Mayor Vincent Gray was denied a second term, defeated in the primary by upstart city councilwoman Muriel Bowser. The beginning of the end came on March 10, when U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen struck a plea bargain with a wealthy businessman who confessed he'd spent $668,000 on an illegal "shadow campaign" to fund get-out-the-vote efforts that helped Gray win the mayoral office in 2010. So the corrupt mayor of America's most important city is thrown out. A political scandal? The same networks that were utterly breathless over the local story of Gov. Chris Christie's aides slowing traffic...

The Russian government today claimed there are more than 100 American 'mercenaries' from a defense contracting company disguised as Ukrainian troops in the embattled former Soviet nation, a claim the American firm and top U.S. officials deny. ... The latest news relesae from Greystone, as posted on a company blog, is from September 2012, titled "New business in Russia" and simply says the company "provided executive protection services in Russia." In April 2012, the company announced it had been awarded a similar contract in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. ...

You will be shocked at what some Americans actually believe. For example, close to 90 percent of us believe that we are eating a healthy diet, and yet more than third of the population is officially obese. 65 percent of all Americans say that they are dissatisfied with the government, and yet nearly a third of us would be willing to submit to a "TSA body cavity search" in order to get on an airplane. As you will see below, Americans are angrier and more frustrated with government and with their lives than ever before, but we also exhibit almost...

Leland Yee should be making national headlines. A Democratic state senator from San Francisco, a statewide candidate until this week, and a rising member of Nancy Pelosi and Diane Feinstein’s Democratic political machine, was arrested on Wednesday by the Justice Department for wire fraud, corruption, and his alleged involvement in illegal gun deal between Chinatown gangsters and Islamist militants. **SNIP** Yet four of the most prominent news outlets in America — CNN, USA Today, Politico and the Chicago Sun-Times — made no mention of the Leland Yee scandal within two days of the story breaking. When Politico finally ran a...

“If everybody minded their own business,” the Duchess said in a hoarse growl, “the world would go round a deal faster than it does.” — Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Cry insult and let loose the enemies of freedom. Late last week, following days of media clamor, ABC Family canceled a pilot for Alice in Arabia. The show was to have centered upon a young American woman as she attempted to escape from family kidnappers in Saudi Arabia. To be sure, ABC’s critics were vociferous, both in volume and in number. But they should never have been able...

The journalists at ABC's World News on Sunday enthusiastically touted a fawning question from a Democratic activist to Hillary Clinton. After anchor David Muir insisted that "it didn't take long for a student there to ask a pointed question," college student Vrinda Agrawal wondered, "If you don't represent women in politics in America as a future president, who will?" [MP3 audio here.] This is a tough question? The event was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and held at Yale Law School. Agrawal followed-up by enthusing, "I will proudly run your campaign." At no time did Muir or reporter Susan Saulny inform...

How do the journalists at Nightline define news? On Monday night, co-host Dan Harris and reporter Mariana van Zeller spent an astonishing nine minutes and 33 seconds on the salacious, gossipy phenomenon of "bootleg butt injections." Yet, it's been 123 days, 17 and a half weeks, since the show's hosts have focused on ObamaCare and the problems with the law's implementation. Harris educated his audience: "In the iconic rap song, Baby Got Back, Sir-Mix-A-Lot professes his love for women with large rear ends." He continued, "Since that song came out in 1992, the world's obsession with plus-size backsides has only...

Warning: This article contains significant spoilers concerning Season 3 of "Scandal." ... ABC's prime-time soap opera is one of the most popular shows going. It's ABC's top-rated drama, the No. 1 show among African Americans and in the top five for women under 50. But more than that, it is one of the most talked-about series on television, consistently in the 10 most Tweeted shows and probably ranking behind only "The Walking Dead" in terms of watercooler importance. But for me, every time I had watched an episode of "Scandal," I wanted to smash my set and then use the...

Like a simple parlor trick, the networks are able to make skeptical scientists vanish, at least from the eyes of their viewers. In some cases, the broadcast networks have failed to include such scientists for years, while including alarmist scientists within the past six months. ABC, CBS and NBC's lengthy omission of scientists critical of global warming alarmism propped up the myth of a scientific consensus, despite the fact that many scientists and thousands of peer-reviewed studies disagree. Neither CBS nor ABC have included a skeptical scientists in their news shows within the past 1,300 days, but both networks included...

I was hoping one of the Texas FReepers would start a thread, but didn't see one. The Texas primary is today..several interesting races, but the BIG ONE involves Cornyn. When you vote...let us know what you heard/saw? What's the weather like down there?

Jimmy Fallon proved Tuesday he wasn't a one-night wonder. The new "Tonight Show" host — oops, star — drew 7.4 million viewers for his second night, more than the combined total for his rivals, David Letterman on CBS and Jimmy Kimmel on ABC. Fallon still had, and will have all this week, the benefit of a lead-in from NBC's popular Olympics coverage.

Is it really shocking for commercials to use actors? According to ABC News, yes. A headline for the ABCNews.com article trumpeted, "Koch Brothers Ad Attacking [Democratic Senator] Mary Landrieu Uses Paid Actors." Rather than investigate the continued failings of ObamaCare, writer Jordyn Phelps hyped the fact that the commercials sponsored by the Koch brothers feature stand-ins, writing, "But the people in the emotion-evoking ad are not Louisianans at all; they are paid actors." Phelps continued, "The ad shows a number of people, who appear to be Louisianans, opening their mail to find a letter stating that their health care policy...

ABC's David Wright is obsessed with Sarah Palin. The Nightline correspondent on Wednesday gratuitously attacked the former vice presidential candidate in a segment that has nothing to do with politics. Wright investigated angry, violent coaches of youth sports. After featuring clips of men encouraging third grade football players to hit each other in the head, Wright made an abrupt left turn into liberal bias: "That full-throated passion, part of the culture of sports in this country. Lampooned in movies like Kicking and Screaming and celebrated by the original hockey mom herself, Sarah Palin, in 2008." [See video below. MP3 audio...

“Tonight is not whether people should or should not own guns,” Sawyer insisted. Right. ABC’s Diane Sawyer and David Muir joined forces Friday night for their 20/20 special, Young Guns, traveling to neighborhoods in which guns are a presence in the home in their effort to characterize guns as threats to children, rather than tools of self-defense. As you’ll see, the producers’ anti-gun agenda was apparent from the start. First, the journalists conducted a little experiment to discover the obvious: kids like playing with guns.

Everyone proposes drinking games for the State of the Union speech. But it’s not just the president that can drive you to drink. It’s the opportunistic media elites deciding which branches of government have too much power, depending on which branches the Democrats presently control. After a lot of stalemate in 2013, the partisan media think it’s high time for the executive branch to go completely around the legislative branch. They think that now that Congress has proven itself unwilling to provide Barack Obama with the historical greatness he deserves, they should and must be driven around like roadkill. They’ll...