Free Republic

Rachel Maddow talks to Michael Leiter, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, about how jihadist violence dominates the media in a way that home-grown, right-wing terror does not.

<p>If the Rev. Al Sharpton, the bigoted, anti-Semitic, non-tax paying race-hustling poverty pimp, had any credibility left, it just vanished.</p> <p>The beneficiary of a lifetime of passes from our race-conscious mainscream media, Sharpton ran into an outlet not afraid of him -- The Smoking Gun. They obtained material that exposed Sharpton as an FBI "informant." Sharpton, of course, denies that this constitutes "snitching." No, he says he "volunteered" to "cooperate" with the FBI -- and for the most honorable of motives.</p>

We're better than those damned Russians and their Putin; we have democracy! Well, maybe not. Quote: Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism. Lots of big words in that paragraph. Let's distill it down -- the argument presented is that America is really no different than...

Wednesday on the "Tom Joyner Morning Show," Al Sharpton offered a curious explanation involving President Barack Obama for the meaning of Easter: "I think that the message is, no matter what the world may do to unfairly, no matter how your crucified, nailed to the cross at home, or in your personal relationships, or on the job that you can rise if you don't lose yourself during the hard times and the challenges. The story of Jesus on the cross. no matter what they humiliated him with. no matter how they mocked him he took it, because he knew he...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)KRYSTAL BALL: Next Monday is Patriots' Day in Boston and thousands of modern patriots will take to the streets to run, to celebrate and to come together out of tragedy, proving true the words of our pledge, one nation, under God, indivisible. That word though, patriot, has become a really loaded one. To see what I mean, consider Cliven Bundy, the rancher who has refused to pay the people of the U.S. what he owes for use of our land because he views the U.S. federal government as a foreign interloper. Mr. Bundy denies the legitimacy of our republic. And...

Where was the Reverend Al when police killed Hispanic Iraq war vet Jose Guerena? Jay Stephenson GenerationSnooki.com March 24 2012 On May 5 last year, former Marine and Iraq war veteran Jose Guerena was just minding his business before police raided his Arizona home and opened fire, releasing more than 70 rounds in 7 seconds while his wife Vanessa and 4-year old son listened from a nearby closet. Armed with SWAT gear and an armored carrier, police no knock raided the Guerena home searching for illegal drugs that were never found. He was suspected of taking part in a marijuana...

Sunday, April 13, 2014 The Paranoid Party Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog The Democrat may no longer believe in God, the Constitution or even motherhood and apple pie, but he devoutly believes with all the faith of a 9/11 Truther in the impermeability of steel and of a Neo-Nazi in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion that somewhere out there Republicans are sitting in a sealed room and plotting to bring back the 50s. And if not the 50s, then at least the early 60s. The left accuses the right of being deeply paranoid. Meanwhile...

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Republican presidential primary is up and running in New Hampshire, where conservative prospects lined up in Manchester Saturday for the first cattle call of the 2016 cycle. Speakers at the New Hampshire Freedom Summit, which was sponsored by Citizens United and Koch-backed Americans For Prosperity, included Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, all of whom would be top tier presidential contenders should they run. Donald Trump also spoke. Huckabee seemed especially determined to show he could compete for conservative votes against politicians like Paul and Cruz, who have each...

On MSNBC last night, host Alex Wagner continued her ongoing “leave the IRS alone” theme with a defense of the organization and its key players that tread into the territory of virtuosity in the art of reversing the spin. Not only, Wagner would have you believe, is the IRS not guilty of anything, not only were conservative groups not harmed or hampered in any way, but in fact it is the IRS who is truly the victim of unjust targeting. They are not the aggressor but the innocent victim, the simple, plainspoken agency that gosh darnit just wants to do...

MSNBC does it again! MSNBC host Alex Wagner attempted to argue that the IRS was actually the victim of the recent investigation into the IRS targeting of conservative groups that were seeking 501(c)(4) status. “In my mind the IRS who is trying to get this out are the ones who have actually been targeted in this investigation.” Wagner stated during her program on Thursday night.

Just before I hit play at Mediaite, this floated through my Twitter timeline: The boldest thing Comedy Central could do to replace Colbert: a show parodying MSNBC left just as Colbert parodied Fox News right.— Conor Friedersdorf (@conor64) April 10, 2014 Good luck parodying this one. Evidently there’s no sin so grave that it can’t be forgiven at MSNBC in the name of making life more difficult for conservative 501(c)(4) groups. Doesn’t matter that Lois Lerner’s been caught daydreaming about working for Obama’s political org while pursuing audits of outfits like American Crossroads. Doesn’t matter that she shared info with...

Uh oh. Morning Joe often includes some of the best political minds around. AND THEY CAN’T COME UP WITH ANYTHING HILLARY HAS DONE EITHER! Were Mrs. Clinton a Republican, she’d be getting called an empty suit, albeit a well-traveled one. One panelist even suggests that she’ll have to reveal her big achievement in her upcoming book, which is to be published in June. As if her terms as senator and Secretary of State were carried out in secret! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBwUWnWraWU

The Rev. Al Sharpton may claim he wore a wire for the feds because he had been threatened by the mob — but a new report says he turned rat to save himself after a federal drug sting. The FBI “flipped” the bombastic reverend after agents confronted him with a surveillance video showing him discussing cocaine with an ­undercover agent, The Smoking Gun Web site said Wednesday. During that March 1983 conversation, Sharpton wore a cowboy-like hat that was garish by even the rabble-rousing preacher’s 1980s standards. He later showed up at a Manhattan apartment for another meeting that June...

Looks like the left might be getting some of that old-time religion. Old-time, as in circa 2007-8, when Barack Obama was being hailed as The One and some sort of messiah. On today's Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski described yesterday's White House equal-pay for women event which she attended, sitting next to Valerie Jarrett. Brzezinski said it was "sort of like a church revival. I'm telling you, every time the president made a comment about why women should be paid equally to men. Equal pay for equal work, talking about the same jobs. You'd hear like 'okay,' clapping, almost like 'praise...

A thorough and extensive report in The Smoking Gun, complete with affidavits and supportive documents, alleges that MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton worked for a period with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to inform on and secretly record members of the mafia. The report strongly implies that it is shocking that Sharpton, or Confidential Informant Number 7 (“CI-7″), is connected to some of the most powerful entertainers and politicians in the country, including the President of the United States, has thus far evaded exposure. “He spends his time at 30 Rockefeller Plaza surrounded by reporters, editors, and researchers committed to...

MSNBC´s Ed Schultz cursed out a caller on his syndicated radio show, calling the man a “fricking a–hole” and telling him to “get the f— out of here.” Ouch! The foul-mouthed rant happened last week on the “Ed Schultz Radio Show.” But it didn´t make it onto anyone´s radar until conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham played the clip on her show Monday. The call in question got off to a rocky start when the man shouted at Schultz,”This is fascism!” and “Stop capitulating to the people who created the problem and you continue to make them wealthy.” Schultz, who

It's not likely the race for president in 2016 will pit former Florida Republican Gov. Jeb Bush and former Democratic Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol predicted. "I'm willing to go out on a limb," Kristol told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday. "I think there's no way there will be a Bush-Clinton race in 2016."

National Labor Relations Board members ruled Monday that NBC Universal, the parent company of the namesake TV network and the cable news channel MSNBC, was illegally refusing to deal with its employees' union, the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians. It ordered the company to "cease and desist" avoiding the union. "[T]he Respondent has been failing and refusing to bargain collectively and in good faith with the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of its unit employees and has engaged in unfair labor practices," ruled a three-member NLRB majority. The announcement is ironic given that MSNBC has remade itself as a liberal...

APRIL 7--When friends and family members gathered recently at the White House for a private celebration of Michelle Obama’s 50th birthday, one of the invited partygoers was a former paid FBI Mafia informant. That same man attended February’s state dinner in honor of French President Francois Hollande. He was seated with his girlfriend at a table adjacent to President Barack Obama, who is likely unaware that, according to federal agents, his guest once interacted with members of four of New York City’s five organized crime families. He even secretly taped some of those wiseguys using a briefcase that FBI technicians...

President Barack Obama is set to headline Al Sharpton's National Action Network (NAN) conference that is being held in New York April 9th through April 12th. The Sharpton conference ostensibly is to "honor" the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Organizers claim that the event is not just for honoring King but for "proactively engaging in dialogue that will spawn change." Al Sharpton founded NAN in 1991 when he was but a community agitator in New York, long before he became an MSNBC TV host. For his work with the organization, NAN paid Sharpton nearly $250,000 in 2011. But the...

Fox's news czar tells THR about his goal to launch a new network with Bill O'Reilly, the real reason Alec Baldwin was fired and why Jeff Zucker's strategy is no cause for concern: "I guess he's going to do whales a lot. If I were Discovery, I'd be worried."

Comcast, which employs more than 100 lobbyists, spent almost $19 million last year on lobbying activities. Its president and CEO, Brian L. Roberts, is a golf buddy of President Obama’s, and a Democratic donor who has contributed thousands of dollars not only to the president’s campaigns, but also to the Democratic Party of Pennsylvania, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the DNC Services Corporation, and to Steny Hoyer, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Bob Casey. Roberts’ executive vice president, David Cohen, is a former aide to Democratic bigwig Ed Rendell. Cohen skirts lobbying regulations through loopholes, has raised more than $2 million for...

MSNBC loves to find a racial controversy in the most unexpected of places and on Wednesday’s NewsNation, anchor Tamron Hall seized a golden opportunity to do just that. Hall brought on Sgt. Jasmine Jacobs, a soldier who started a White House petition asking the president to force the U.S. Army to reconsider its updated appearance and grooming regulations. [T]he U.S. Army just released its updated appearance and grooming regulations and it's drawing sharp criticism for rules many say unfairly target African-American women's hair... [O]ne of the rules which only applies to women is a ban on twists, dreadlocks, and multiple...

Support for a Bush candidacy is building far beyond Florida. At a gathering of prominent conservatives in Las Vegas last weekend — where presidential hopefuls kissed the ring of billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson — Bush was among those who puckered up. And the donors liked what they saw. "GOP elite hoping to lure Jeb Bush," trumpeted the headline at the top of the Washington Post's Sunday-morning paper. Some see Bush as the party's best hope. Others see weaknesses ripe for exploitation. I think both sides are right. Right now, Florida's 43rd governor towers above most of the other Republicans...

Ronan Farrow’s MSNBC talk show is facing cancellation amid poor ratings, sources exclusively tell Confidenti@l. Farrow, 28 — the opinionated, blue-eyed son of actress Mia Farrow and either Woody Allen or Frank Sinatra (even Farrow’s not sure which) — has been a disaster for MSNBC. The channel took the frequent cable-show guest and handed him his own program, “Ronan Farrow Daily,” which premiered in late February.

This is the story of MSNBC in a nutshell: It rose to prominence on its criticism of George W. Bush, peaked during Barack Obama's historic 2008 campaign, and, by criticizing Republicans and championing liberal causes, sustained its viewership in the years that followed. Until now. MSNBC suffered harder loses in 2013 -- in terms of both viewership and revenue -- than either of its competitors at Fox News and CNN, according to Nielsen data featured in a new Pew Research report. Prime-time viewership declined by a staggering 24 percent (nearly twice the loss sustained by CNN and four-times that sustained...

This is the story of MSNBC in a nutshell: It rose to prominence on its criticism of George W. Bush, peaked during Barack Obama's historic 2008 campaign, and, by criticizing Republicans and championing liberal causes, sustained its viewership in the years that followed. Until now. MSNBC suffered harder loses in 2013 -- in terms of both viewership and revenue -- than either of its competitors at Fox News and CNN, according to Nielsen data featured in a new Pew Research report. Prime-time viewership declined by a staggering 24 percent (nearly twice the loss sustained by CNN and four-times that sustained...

The Known Unknown is a documentary that premiered this week about two time Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. On his MSNBC show yesterday, Chris Matthews interviewed documentary maker and producer of the film Errol Morris. Matthews described Morris' work as "mystifying" before going on to describe Rumsfeld as looking like a car bomber. "I found this long documentary mystifying," Matthews said. "Yet it is the Donald Rumsfeld I have always known, that fey, sort of eccentric, sort whimsical face of his, that I swear has the look of a car bomber because he has to smile about the most serious,...

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...

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MI, March 26, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A pro-life group's involvement in the Michigan race for the U.S. Senate is bringing abortion into what had previously been a race focused on the economy, the low popularity of President Obama in the state, and the Affordable Care Act. On a website highlighting the pro-abortion record of Michigan Rep. Gary Peters, D-MI, the expected party nominee for U.S. Senate, Michigan Right to Life (MRTL) said that Peters “wants to make sure abortion is accessible and cheap for his daughters.” The statement is based on what Peters posted on Facebook on January...

If one wants sober and careful analysis of legal issues, the last media outlet one would choose would be MSNBC — and Joy Reid demonstrates why. Taking a page from Jamie Stiehm and using a construct that would be called bigotry in any other context, Reid warns viewers that a Supreme Court full of Catholics are a threat to the progress toward a more secular nation, especially in the Hobby Lobby/Conestoga case being heard at the Supreme Court today. Can you really trust Catholics to interpret the law, Reid asks (via Truth Revolt and Jeff Dunetz):(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Now, the most famous...

MSNBC is in serious trouble By DYLAN BYERS | 3/26/14 12:01 PM EDT This is the story of MSNBC in a nutshell: It rose to prominence on its criticism of George W. Bush, peaked during Barack Obama's historic 2008 campaign, and, by criticizing Republicans and championing liberal causes, sustained its viewership in the years that followed. Until now. MSNBC suffered harder loses in 2013 -- in terms of both viewership and revenue -- than either of its competitors at Fox News and CNN, according to Nielsen data featured in a new Pew Research report. Prime-time viewership declined by a staggering...

This is the story of MSNBC in a nutshell: It rose to prominence on its criticism of George W. Bush, peaked during Barack Obama's historic 2008 campaign, and, by criticizing Republicans and championing liberal causes, sustained its viewership in the years that followed. Until now. MSNBC suffered harder loses in 2013 -- in terms of both viewership and revenue -- than either of its competitors at Fox News and CNN, according to Nielsen data featured in a new Pew Research report. Prime-time viewership declined by a staggering 24 percent (nearly twice the loss sustained by CNN and four-times that sustained...

New York Times columnist and Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman is questioning Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn’s claim that Obamacare caused him to lose his cancer specialist. “It’s a garbage story, it really is,” said Krugman in a back-and-forth with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on CNN after the State of the Union on Tuesday. Coburn, who announced earlier this month that he’ll resign from office at the end of the year as he battles his fourth bout with cancer, told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that his oncologist was no longer covered under his health care plan.

While appearing at a rally to kick-off the campaign for an Ohio state constitutional amendment dealing with voters' rights, MSNBC host Al Sharpton and some Democrats honored Melowese Richardson, a former poll worker who was convicted in 2013 of voter fraud, Cincinnati.com reported Friday. Richardson admitted voting twice for Obama in 2012, and was indicted for voting at least six times. She was also charged last year of illegal voting in the 2008 and 2011 elections. She was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released and placed on probation after Democratic activists demanded a "fairer" term, Cincinnati.com said....

e day after a Democrat Illinois lawmaker cruised to victory in his party’s primary Tuesday, he gave up his seat in the wake of a child pornography raid. State Rep. Keith Farnham stepped down from representing Elgin, a city about 35 miles northwest of Chicago, days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided his home and his state office in Springfield. Items that were seized included the laptop computer Farnham used on the House floor, The Associated Press reported. The search warrant sought material that “in any format and medium concerning minors visually depicted while engaged in sexually explicit conduct,”...

You're MSNBC. That hurts I know, but work with me. So, what would you like to feature: President Obama getting Putinized? Syria flouting the WMD agreement? Iran's inexorable march toward nukes? The ongoing Obamacare debacle? Not so much. Say: why not make like CNN and go all in on MH-370? Which is precisely what Morning Joe did today. The first 103 minutes were devoted exclusively to the story of the missing plane, as an endless series of experts and panelists speculated to no particular avail. Rare that we agree with Madeline Albright. But long into the second hour, during—finally—a Ukraine...

Edward Murrow apparently didn't have the intestinal fortitude to tackle the subject of "Bronies."  However, the winner of the  Cronkite Award for Excellence in Exploration and Journalism about five minutes after his debut on MSNBC, Ronan Farrow, dared to investigate from deep inside the world of Bronies. Forget a missing Malaysian airliner, phony Obamacare numbers, or Russia grabbing Crimea. Farrow reveals a topic of real importance. So what is a Brony? I could explain it briefly to you but the humiliation would overwhelm me. If you want to risk losing way more brain cells than you are willing to part...

The line between liberal political punditry and ouright liberal politcal activism at MSNBC continues to fade to the very vanishing point. In the latest promo for his All In show, Chris Hayes boasts "I'm not just a passive witness. I am not there to just tell you a story. I'm there to act out: to do it in real time—to do politics, not talk about it." There's something comic about Hayes' delivery. He speaks with all the strength and conviction of President Obama laying down a red line to Vladimir Putin. View the video here.

Man, this is just pathetic. If you haven’t seen MSNBC’s latest show, “Ronan Farrow Daily,” it’s most likely because no one has. But he’s definitely the new “it-kid” as far as liberals are concerned. Ronan recently earned a Walter Cronkite Award, which was bestowed upon him on only the third day of his broadcasting career. Think Obama and his Nobel Peace Prize. And that came on the heels of a glowing New York Times puff piece that predicted the 25-year-old will be a future president. Oh, I can’t wait. Actually, let’s change the law so he can run in 2016!...

MSNBC's Ronan Farrow aired a report from Kenya on Wednesday, pointing out that even though President Obama was suffering some of his lowest approval ratings ever in America, he was still very popular in his father's homeland. "We've heard about President Obama's poll numbers here in the United States, including those pretty dim assessments of his handling of the rest of the world," Farrow began. "But out in the wide world, there is one place he can always call home — if they have anything to do with it."

Fresh from his becoming the republican nominee for governor in the Lone Star State, Greg Abbott is now the subject of attack by left-wing cable television station MSNBC. The liberal “news network” is following friends of Wendy Davis in going after the pro-life Texas gubernatorial candidate over his physical disability. The Truth Revolt web site reports on MSNBC’s horrible comment: GregAbbott5On Friday, MSNBC reporter Zachary Roth described Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who is paralyzed from the waist down, this way: The simple sight of him in his wheelchair—matchstick-thin legs dangling in front of him as he maneuvers himself around—is...

Abortion practitioners across the country are responsible for nearly 57 million abortions. They kill unborn babies on a daily basis, kill and injure women in failed abortions, and leave women, men, and families dealing with devastating mental health and spiritual issues as a result. While a majority of Americans oppose abortion and believe abortions ought to be illegal, MSNBC held a segment calling abortion practitioners heroes. The Maddow show story focused on the anger abortion advocates have over pro-life laws in Texas and other states resulting in closing abortion businesses because they can’t seem to follow the law. As Texas...

The Columbia Journalism Review, which is not known for its conservative views, published an article yesterday by Alexis Sobel Fitts that credits Fox News for giving opponents more of a voice than does MSNBC: Though MSNBC has a handful of moderate conservatives—namely Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough—Fox stands out for the prominence it awards its on-air naysayers, many of whom occupy regular roles on the network’s most popular shows Fox’s stable of liberals includes Kirsten Powers, Juan Williams, Alan Colmes, Dennis Kucinich, James Carville and Tamara Holder, to name a few. Holder, a Chicago-educated lawyer, has collaborated with Jesse Jackson and...

In a shocking display of cruelty, MSNBC’s Zachary Roth attacked Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott in an article under the headline: "No One Pushes Greg Abbott Around." Abbott, who is in a wheelchair, is the Republican gubernatorial candidate running against Wendy Davis. MSNBC’s Roth goes on to write, “Put simpler: It’s hard to turn a guy in a wheelchair into a villain—no matter his record.” This incident is not the first time left-of-center advocates for Wendy Davis have crossed lines in using Abbott's disability. The pro-Wendy Davis group Battleground Texas made headlines when a leader from the group was caught...

MSNBC should really Czech its facts. The American TV network has invited ridicule by stuffing up a map that was supposed to help explain the escalating crisis in Ukraine. Look just to the west of Ukraine on the map above and you’ll see a country labelled “Czechoslovakia”. Of course, Czechoslovakia hasn’t existed since 1993, when it split into two nations. MSNBC’s map should have included Slovakia and the Czech Republic instead.

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow charged Monday that the George W. Bush administration's Middle East policy has steered America's current security policy and response to global crises — including the one in Ukraine. Talking about her new documentary, "Why We Did It," involving circumstances leading to the Iraq War, Maddow told MSNBC colleague Andrea Mitchell that the Bush administration is largely responsible for the nation's current course overseas. “The decisions of our generation on national security are determined more than anything by what the George W. Bush administration did with that nine-year war in Iraq and, alongside it, a 13-year war...

News organizations often disagree about what Americans need to know. MSNBC, for example, apparently believes that traffic in Fort Lee, N.J., is the crisis of our time. Fox News, on the other hand, chooses to cover the September 2012 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi more heavily than other networks. The American people, for their part, disagree about what they want to watch. But everyone should agree on this: The government has no place pressuring media organizations into covering certain stories. Unfortunately, the Federal Communications Commission, where I am a commissioner, does not agree. Last May the FCC...