Free Republic

There are plenty of people listening to talk radio. But over the past three years, it has become increasingly difficult to make money off it. Many national advertisers have fled from such stations in recent years, seeking to avoid associating their brands with potentially controversial programming. Radio executives said the erosion of ad dollars from talk stations was driven in part by a series of organized social-media campaigns by liberal activists in early 2012 that scared away advertisers.

Sharyl Attkisson was one of the most distinguished investigative journalists in television news, covering everything from the dangers of certain prescription drugs to mismanagement at the Red Cross to TARP to K Street. Over a career that spanned more than 20 years at CBS News, she received numerous awards for her work, including multiple Emmys. In her memoir Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s Washington, Attkisson looks back on the final years of her network career. One concludes from her book that Attkisson encountered more difficulty practicing her profession at...

CORONADO, Calif. (AP) — Republican presidential prospect Ben Carson on Thursday compared the Islamic State group to American patriots willing to die for freedom.In a speech to the Republican National Committee's winter meeting outside San Diego, the former neurosurgeon and conservative favorite praised American patriots for their willingness to give their lives for their beliefs. Then he mentioned the Islamic State group.

**SNIP** After mentioning the Sony emails and telling his listeners who Elba is, Limbaugh said, “Here’s the thing, though… James Bond is a fictional character, obviously. James Bond was invented, created by Ian Fleming… and James Bond is… white and Scottish. Period. That is who James Bond is.” “But now Sony is suggesting that the next James Bond should be Idris Elba, a black Briton rather than a white from Scotland,” continued Limbaugh. “But that’s NOT who James Bond is, and I know it’s racist to probably even point this out… We had 50 years of white Bonds because Bond...

With a quiet, almost unnoticed nomination just before Thanksgiving, President Barack Obama rewarded Media Matters for its help in attacking reporters and critics of the administration. At the same time, he virtually guaranteed that a federal agency that is supposed to improve the administration of elections will instead become a partisan battleground intended to help his political party. On Nov. 19, the White House issued a press release announcing that it was withdrawing the nomination of Myrna Perez, a lawyer at the Brennan Center, to be a commissioner on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). It instead nominated Matthew S....

Doubling down on comments he made Wednesday night, Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera appeared on Fox & Friends Friday morning to discuss Cleveland Cavs star LeBron James and the statement he made recently wearing an “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirt prior to a game with the Brooklyn Nets. While LeBron is far from the only NBA player who has worn the shirt to show his dissatisfaction with the grand jury’s decision not to indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner, he is definitely the most high-profile athlete who has done so. Therefore, pundits and commentators have focused on...

The leader of a group hoping to improve liberals' fortunes at the state level revealed on Friday plans to start tracking conservative state legislators based on the assumption that "someone’s going to say something about black people" or women. The comments came at the first ever conference of the State Innovation Exchange (SiX), the Left’s attempt to counter conservative policy successes that have followed Republican victories at the state level. “We’re working with David Brock and Media Matters and American Bridge who have trackers that we can send out to monitor the debate on some bills that you all might...

With just one telephone call this year, Erik Wemple of the Washington Post was able to convince Media Matters to let me respond to their attacks on me in the comments section of their website — after they ignored my emails, telephone calls, numerous tweets and posts for seven years. Media Matters purports to correct misinformation that the “conservative” media puts out, but, ironically, they have systematically hidden comments critical of their work from their readers. They have a blog where it appears that conservatives and others can respond, but they don’t tell their readers that they have regularly removed...

Media Matters has long advertised to the public a commitment to fighting misinformation on the internet, but lately the group seems to be creating misinformation of its own. The nonprofit generally targets Republicans and is regularly cited by pundits and news outlets. More recently, the group engaged in what could best be called a smear campaign against John Lott, an economist, firearms researcher, and Founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center. For more than a decade, Lott has developed a unique public profile as an expert on guns and society, who combines advocacy with substantial data and academic rigor. Media...

Media Matters for the Left: Summary: David Brock defected from conservatism and now runs a political empire, sliming those who threaten his pals like President Obama and Hillary Clinton. He first established, with help from George Soros, the nonprofit Media Matters for America, a fake watchdog on the press. Now he also enjoys doling out millions of dollars for political activism with his new super PAC, American Bridge 21st Century. Conservatism is a disease in need of eradication, according to Media Matters for America (MMfA), a decade-old pretended media watchdog that focuses on a unicorn known as “conservative misinformation.” Of...

hether you enjoyed your weekend or sheltered in place wearing personal protective equipment, you may have missed the news that officials are preparing to clear four dozen people who had direct or indirect contact with Dallas Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan after he’d begun shedding the virus, but before he was finally admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The 21 days since doctors belatedly diagnosed Duncan marks the end of Ebola’s incubation period, and none of these contacts—including family members who’d been caring for him in very close quarters after he’d become gravely ill—has developed any symptoms of the disease....

A small group of liberal activists who want conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh off the air are not denying—as stated in an investigative report posted on Limbaugh’s website—that they have used automated software to generate massive numbers of negative tweets to companies they apparently have never patronized but that advertise on Limbaugh’s show. The automated generation of massive numbers of Tweets may be in violation of Twitter’s own rules. However, Twitter declined to directly comment on the matter—instead pointing CNSNews.com to its user rules. On Sept. 23, the rushlimbaugh.com website posted an extensive investigative report, The Hidden Story Behind Stop...

Angelo Carusone is probably one of the most famous people you’ve never heard of. A prolific warrior for disaffected minorities and the underserved liberal masses, Carusone is the founder of Stop Rush. (As in Limbaugh.) He was also a guiding force behind the parallel Stop Beck effort. The recipient of massive financial support from George Soros, Carusone went on to become the Executive Vice President of Media Matters, acting as a tireless champion of both racial minorities and LGBT citizens and fighting the regressive, hateful conservative movement.In light of all this, it may turn out to be rather curious...

The recent campaign to silence conservative radio legend Rush Limbaugh is led by ten liberal activists engaged in a more than four-year long effort to destroy Limbaugh by targeting his advertisers.... The activists even use technology to “machine-tweet” anti-Rush comments in robotic fashion to ensure maximum Twitter exposure for their insular group’s efforts. Here are the names of the Stop Rush Ten, as identified by Limbaugh’s staff: Angelo Carusone: Executive vice president of the George Soros-funded liberal attack group Media Matters for America. Matthew Mitchell: An Altamont Springs, Florida resident who tweets as @CaptMurdock. Nancy Padak: A former Kent State...

Chicago Big profit for Pritzkers on costly Chicago FBI deal Sun, 09/14/2014 - 3:30pm Better Government Association @bettergov | Email A deal involving the federal government’s most expensive lease in Chicago produced millions of dollars in profits for a development group that included Penny Pritzker, a top campaign fund-raiser for President Barack Obama who is now his commerce secretary, a Chicago Sun-Times / Better Government Association investigation has found. The developers also included Jack Higgins, a friend and political backer of former Mayor Richard M. Daley. Over the 14-year term of the lease, the government will pay $280 million in...

It is easy to conclude that President Obama’s release of five hardened terrorists from Guantanamo in exchange for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was just another sharp stick in the eye of the American people. There have been many. A major campaign contributor was appointed to lead the investigation of the IRS after an Inspector General report showed that IRS employees routinely abuse confidential IRS information for political purposes. The Department of Justice sued states to stop them from requiring a photo ID to vote while the EPA requires a photo ID for anyone wishing to attend Climate Change hearings this summer....

According to the AP, a CIA agent’s name was leaked by the White House . The AP calls it an “embarrassing flub” even though it was a crime when an aide in the Bush administration leaked the name of part-time agent Valerie Plame. What’s given little attention in the story is the fact that the Washington Post reporter who wrote the story sent his copy to the White House to be checked for “accuracy.” ... First of all, any reporter worth his salt would not depend on the subject he’s reporting on to verify accuracy. That’s just crazy. He’d make...

The Democracy Alliance, a top-secret collective of ultra-rich left-wing political donors, has a new member — Randi Weingarten, who heads the labor union that represented Douglas County teachers until two years ago when the district went union-free. ... Weingarten is president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), an arm of the AFL-CIO whose affiliates include the Douglas County Federation. ... Ben DeGrow, Independence Institute senior education policy analyst, said Weingarten’s joining the Democracy Alliance shows that the union is using dues collected from teachers to pursue an extreme political agenda. ... Unlike other school districts, Douglas County no longer...

The Democracy Alliance takes pains to ensure that its work disbursing millions of dollars to top left-wing organizations remains secretive and free from public scrutiny. But a document left on the floor of the group’s recent gathering reveals for the first time the names of a number of individuals involved in the effort. It lists new Democracy Alliance “partners,” individuals who every year must pay $30,000 in dues and contribute at least $200,000 to the groups that DA supports. It also reveals names of DA “advisers,” foundation participants, and individuals getting a “sneak peek” at the group’s activities. Among its...

Media Matters employees are furious that their bosses are trying to keep them from unionizing. A union-organizing committee at the liberal group released a statement Monday slamming their employers for “the unexpected and unexplained path our leadership has taken in response to our efforts to unionize,” adding that “the actions of Media Matters executives have placed employees in the impossible position of continuing to produce content espousing pro-labor values for an employer who is challenging our right to unionize.”