Free Republic

Why have the protests and riots lasted so long in Ferguson? Why have out-of-town agitators and opportunists like the Communist Revolutionary Party and the New Black Panthers flocked to a St. Louis suburb? Why, 12 days after Michael Brown was shot to death by a policeman, do the good people of Ferguson who want to see a fair and just investigation into the facts surrounding Brown's death still have no peace? It's the national news media, stupid. It's the ratings-hungry, pot-stirring, sensationalizing TV media that never misses a chance to milk - and perpetuate -- a white-on-black news story. Ferguson...

New York dignitaries....held a joint press conference...on Monday....at the exact site where a young Jew was violently assaulted...

Well now they have done it. They killed a priest. A high priest. A secular high priest. They killed a journalist I mean. “In the video released on Tuesday,” reports Asia News Channel, “an individual presumed to be [freelance journalist James] Foley - who was captured by militants in Syria in November 2012 - is seen on his knees in a desert landscape reading a statement asking his family to stop the US intervention in Iraq. A man standing next to him dressed in black with his face covered and holding a knife then says in a distinct British accent...

After witnessing the spectacle of MSNBC host Chris Hayes getting pelted with rocks by an angry mob in Ferguson, Mo., Monday night, I was struck by a feeling of anger and frustration. Not at the rioters. Rioters throw rocks. That’s what they do. My anger was at the despicable display of “tolerance” and “understanding” displayed by Hayes, as he lowered his expectations for civil behavior to accommodate his liberal need to be accepted by the mob. Chris Hayes and his MSNBC colleagues Rachel Maddow, Laurence O’Donnell, Ed Schultz, Chris Matthews, and Al Sharpton, have spent hundreds of hours of air...

It had seemed to the four clean-cut college freshman that night like a typical McDonald’s: spanking clean, well-lighted, and safe. It was in a good neighborhood too, right next to Texas A&M University in College Station – a campus known for its friendly atmosphere and official down-home greeting: “howdy” Out on a double date, the two couples pulled into the parking lot of so-called “University McDonald’s” shortly after 2 a.m. that Sunday – and beheld a scene unlike anything portrayed in all those wholesome McDonald’s television commercials. Before them, hundreds of young black males were loitering about, some without shirts.Other...

Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich wants Alaskans to know he is one of them and an independent voice against President Barack Obama. So he's opening campaign offices in far-flung places like a coin-operated laundry in Dillingham...

President Obama went back to his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard Tuesday evening following less than 48 hours in Washington, leaving people puzzled over why he came back in the first place. Obama’s two days in Washington were mostly quiet, and concluded with the president receiving his daily national security briefing in the morning, and joining Vice President Biden to huddle with members of his economic team in the afternoon. Administration officials have insisted for weeks that the president just wanted to return to the White House for a series of meetings, but the explanation was met with a healthy dose...

A grisly video released Tuesday shows Islamic State extremists beheading American journalist James Foley, U.S. officials said, in what the extremists called retribution for recent U.S. air strikes in Iraq. They threatened to kill another captive they also identified as an American journalist, Steven Sotloff, of Miami.

'American Bombing Had Signed My Death Certificate': Missing US journalist James Wright Foley goes unflinching to his death as ISIS behead him in horrific video, as a warning to Obama American photojournalist James Wright Foley has been beheaded by ISIS forces Foley has been missing since Thanksgiving 2012 while working in Syria ISIS posted the extremely graphic video 'A Message to America' to social media Foley speaks to camera before his death and labels the US his killers Apparently coerced by his captors into speaking against his country A masked and robed member of ISIS speaking English in what is...

Comedian John Oliver recently took an admittedly pretty funny shot at the concept of native advertising. His basic point was that the blurring lines between objective content and marketing pieces threatens journalistic integrity and consumer trust in the media. Now, I find Oliver to be a funny and talented guy, and he’s done some spot-on stuff (particularly his most famous piece on net neutrality). However, on this topic, he’s really off-base. Native advertising is everywhere, and all signs point to it becoming even more ubiquitous, particularly as news outlets try to come up with meaningful business models for their online...

In a tense, middle-of-the night press conference early Tuesday morning, Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson lectured members of the media about safety and implored them to assist law enforcement in calming tensions in the city. After reporting that two individuals had been shot and several police officers injured during another night of protests in response to last week’s shooting of Michael Brown, Johnson showed members of the media items that law enforcement officials had confiscated during the previous night’s protests including a Molotov cocktail, fireworks that had been thrown into a crowd, and two guns. Johnson said the guns...

The low cost of communication over the Internet has led to “a dangerous proliferation of voices” according to President Obama. “It used to be that everyone got their view of the news from major media outlets,” Obama recounted. “There was more unanimity of message. This helped bring the country together.” “Now, though, any nobody with a little free time can get a website and pontificate for all the world to see,” the President complained. “We have no way to control what is said and we lack the time and energy to refute every erroneous idea or contention that is made.”...

President Obama on Sunday hit the golf course on Martha's Vineyard one more time before returning to Washington. ....Obama golfed at the Farm Neck Golf Club with former NBA star Alonzo Mourning and Marvin Nicholson and Joe Paulsen, who are members of the White House trip planning team.

About 150 people including law enforcement officers stood in front of KSDK (Channel 5) on Market Street late Sunday afternoon to rally in support of Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, the officer police say shot and killed Michael Brown, 18, on Aug. 9.

Five people have been killed and at least 27 others wounded in weekend shootings across Chicago.

And on Saturday, there was no golf. The President and First Lady, known recently in these parts, by the White House Press Pool at least, as POTUS and FLOTUS, went to a private beach on Martha’s Vineyard’s south shore. After rinsing the sand off, the President and First Lady attended a cocktail party at the home of Broderick Johnson, and his wife Michelle Johnson. Mr. Johnson was an advisor on the President’s 2012 reelection campaign. The press pool had a lovely dinner respite at the Homeport Restaurant in Menemsha, reported MV Times staff reporter Steve Myrick, where Chef Josh Aronie...

A university student in Ferguson, Mo. was the apparent victim of the “knockout game” attack and a news cameraman was punched multiple times in the face Thursday. The student was near the Ferguson McDonald’s when a witness says he was sucker-punched, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Employees at the restaurant provided immediate aid, and the victim was transported to a hospital. A news cameraman with Kansas City’s KMBC was also attacked in a separate incident, according to the Post-Dispatch. The station’s reporter, Eli Rosenberg, sent a tweet saying that a man walked up to the cameraman and punched him multiple...

I have heard repeatedly....ad nauseam...that Mr. Brown was an UNARMED TEEN. Completely missing is the context. Be truthful, media. He was unarmed, according to reports, because he was unable to take the gun away from the police officer.

Know your enemy. To know what ISIS is, we have to clear away the media myths about ISIS. ISIS is not a new phenomenon. Wahhabi armies have been attacking Iraq in order to wipe out Shiites for over two hundred years. One of the more notably brutal attacks took place during the administration of President Thomas Jefferson. That same year the Marine Corps saw action against the Barbary Pirates and West Point opened, but even Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore and Howard Zinn chiming via Ouija board would have trouble blaming the Wahhabi assault on the Iraqi city of Kerbala in...

As a 72-hour ceasefire takes hold in Israel, New York Times Gaza-based reporters remain locked in a peculiar moral equivalency between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas bent on the nation's destruction, with reporters taking pains on social media and television to stick up for Hamas, dismissing the idea of Hamas harassment of journalists as "nonsense," and even criticizing Hillary Clinton for taking on the group.. Reporter Anne Barnard appeared on Sunday's edition of CNN's Reliable Sources, hosted by former Times colleague Brian Stelter. When Stelter asked Barnard about the "biggest misconceptions" in the coverage offered by naysayers "thousands of...