Free Republic

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Chuck Todd, the new host of NBC's Meet The Press, suggested that Americans who do not pay income tax fund public education more than the rich by buying lottery tickets and going to casinos. While interviewing Ben Carson on CSPAN's After Words, which aired on Sunday, Todd said that Americans who don't pay federal income tax go to casinos or buy lottery tickets and are "spending more money funding our schools, whether it's Detroit or other places." Todd said that though "they are not writing a check to the federal government," poorer Americans "are contributing arguably more money to education...

When CNN first broadcast the unverified audio of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, it was with all the sturm and drang of breathless breaking news. The audio led almost every hour and was the biggest story of the day. What a difference a day makes. The language coming from "New Day" anchor Michaela Pereira Wednesday morning is much more cautious. "Do you think it's authentic?" she squeaked to two law enforcement experts, both of whom believe it is a hoax: (VIDEO-AT-LINK)Even if the audio ends up being authentic, the fact that CNN is now concerned over its...

Only 22% of Americans have confidence in the truth of what they read see or hear from the mainstream media (MSM). The hundreds of stories that have been twisted and distorted by the MSM over the past few years have made this number unavoidable. The latest reminder of the MSM’s love of lies and half-truths is the Washington Post’s (WaPo) twisted reportage of Ferguson Missouri riots. The WaPo sent nine reporters to Ferguson Missouri to discover what they could about Police Officer Darren Wilson. Officer Wilson is the surviving victim of a savage attack by Michael Brown which was stopped...

On Sunday, August 24, This Week moderator George Stephanopoulos bizarrely worried that the U.S. might take too much action in combating the terrorist group ISIS.

How many nine-year-old Antonio's need to die in Chicago before the national media will park its satellite trucks in front of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's City Hall and demand answers and action. How many black people, including black children, need to die in Chicago before the national media stops counting civilian casualties in Gaza as a political weapon against Israel and starts counting them in one of our own cities. Overnight in Chicago 10 people were shot. One night. One. How many more until the national media cares enough to look into the root causes of the violence, poverty, despair, terrible...

I had been on the ground helping Al Jazeera America** cover the protests and unrest in Ferguson, Mo., since this all started last week. After what I saw last night, I will not be returning. The behavior and number of journalists there is so appalling, that I cannot in good conscience continue to be a part of the spectacle. **A clarification edit: I am not a full-time employee of any Al Jazeera branch or network. I am a freelance journalist who contributes to several media platforms. Things I’ve seen: -Cameramen yelling at residents in public meetings for standing in way...

<p>Well, I have been trying to lay low on this thing for a while, because I knew as soon as all of the breathless reports started about Michael Brown’s death, more facts – and let’s stress that, FACTS – would come to light that would blow the immediate narrative right out of the water.</p>

Via our colleagues at Twitchy, here’s a demonstration of why the national media is so bad at covering Second Amendment issues. CNN’s Don Lemon is normally not a bad anchor, but he’s clearly out of his depth in this debate — and what’s worse, refuses to recognize that he’s out of his depth even when it’s being made painfully clear to him by Ben Ferguson. Lemon himself all but declares his ignorance of firearms while delivering an indictment of the US based on the supposed free availability of a commodity that’s actually so tightly controlled it’s impossible to acquire without...

The Constitution lives. Even as the news is brutal — it instructs for those willing to pay attention. American journalist James Foley has been beheaded by ISIS. And an American teenager named Michael Brown was shot dead by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer named Darren Wilson. In the case of Michael Brown, Ferguson, Missouri remains in an uproar. The town is awash in protesters, both from Ferguson and outsiders. There has been a steady diet of rioting and looting. The President of the United States is involved. The Attorney General of the United States is involved, going to Ferguson personally...

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...

Those of us who admit that we were not there, and do not know what happened when Michael Brown was shot by a policeman in Ferguson, Missouri, seem to be in the minority. We all know what has happened since then — and it has been a complete disgrace by politicians, the media and mobs of rioters and looters. Despite all the people who act as if they know exactly what happened, nevertheless when the full facts come out, that can change everything. This is why we have courts of law, instead of relying on the media or mobs. But...

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...

Was it a simple mistake, or more deeply revealing of how Luke Russert regards events in Ferguson, MO? With Chuck Todd on his way to Meet The Press, Russert hosted MSNBC's Daily Rundown today. Speaking with NBC reporter Ron Allen, on the scene in Ferguson, Russert said: "the big news this morning is we expect to hear for the first time the name of the officer who was involved in the murder of Michael Brown -- or the killing of Michael Brown." H/t reader Charles B. View the video here.

The hashtag demonstrates that the narrative the media continues to portray regarding black people isn’t always truthful. The vicious slaying of Mike Brown by Ferguson, Mo., police has once again shown that the narrative the media paints surrounding black people in America more often than not includes depicting us as violent thugs with gang and drug affiliations. It’s safe to say that Brown has become a victim of what I like to refer to as the “Trayvon Martin effect” in the media. Trayvon, who was killed by George Zimmerman, was depicted as a gold-grill-wearing, weed-smoking teenager in the photos used...

After hundreds of people rioted and looted in Ferguson, Missouri, Sunday evening to protest the death of Michael Brown – an unarmed, black 18-year-old whom a police officer shot over the weekend – CNN anchor Don Lemon sympathized with the rioters and lawbreakers. Appearing as a guest on Brooke Baldwin's CNN show Monday, Lemon said, "this is about the treatment of men of color in our society." "They are treated differently whether it be law enforcement, whether it be at work, whether it be at a grocery store, whether it be on the street," he said. "They are treated differently,...

The Foreign Press Association on Monday lodged a strong protest accusing the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas of harassment and of threatening foreign reporters working in Gaza. The association for journalists working in Israel and the Palestinian territories said Hamas authorities and their representatives employed "blatant, incessant, forceful and unorthodox methods" against visiting international journalists covering the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. The FPA, in a statement, protested "in the strongest terms". "The international media are not advocacy organizations and cannot be prevented from reporting by means of threats or pressure, thereby denying their readers and viewers an objective picture from the...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)President Barack Obama said the power of conservative opposition, including in the media, is blocking his agenda in an interview with New York Times columnist Tom Friedman late last week. “What you’ve seen with our politics, partly because of gerrymandering, partly because of the Balkanization of media so people just watch what reinforces their deepest biases, partly because of big money in politics, is increasingly politicians are rewarded for taking the most extreme, maximalist positions,” Obama told the liberal Times columnist. “Sooner or later, that catches up with you. You end up not being able to move forward on things...

Well, it looks like the Progressive lapdog media has been colluding again. Media Trackers, a site that tracks media stories and works for transparency in government, uncovered a group with over 1,000 members that is literally a who’s who of the Progressive Left in media. And I would wager, it is only the tip of the iceberg out there — I am sure that the collaboration is widespread and well-organized.  The group is called Gamechanger Salon and boasts members that include a CNN commentator, the top two political reporters for The Huffington Post, a Reuters reporter, the editor of The Nation magazine,...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Wednesday on MSNBC's "Hardball," host Chris Matthews discussing the presidential press conference that had just wrapped up, said he understood President Barack Obama's answer to whether he will grant work permits essentially creating amnesty for up to 5 million illegal immigrants living in the United States was "yes." Matthews said, "His answer to me was yes -- I'm going to issue some kind of system whereby people get relief from deportation or whatever it is. The government of the United States is going to in effect give work permits to people in this country illegally."(continued)

A prominent CNN commentator, the top two political reporters for The Huffington Post, a Reuters reporter, the editor of The Nation magazine, a producer for Al Jazeera America television, a U.S. News & World Report columnist, and approximately two dozen Huffington Post contributors are among the more than 1,000 members of Gamechanger Salon. Founded by leftwing activist Billy Wimsatt, the group is a secretive digital gathering of writers, opinion leaders, activists and political hands who share information, ideas and strategy via a closed Google group.