Free Republic

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Go to the sound bites coming next and you'll hear them: They think they've turned the corner. Like on April 15th, everybody's gonna file their taxes. Is Obama gonna do a Rose Garden ceremony to talk about how persuasive he's been and how many people love the income tax? "My God, look at this, folks! Look at how many have complied this year. Look how many people love the income tax, and the income tax is making our country and a transfer of wealth possible. Look at how many millions and millions and millions of people file...

FULL TITLE: 'Britain's first and only Muslim drag queen' banned from discussing homosexuality in BBC 'Free Speech' debate in mosque Muslim drag queen Asifa Lahore is already a prominent figure on the LGBT (lesbian gay, bisexual and transgender) circuit. The British Pakistani drag artist regularly appears on the cabaret and club scene and makes glamorous music videos, often with a comedy edge. However, he raised a serious question at a debate being recorded for BBC Three show Free Speech live at Birmingham Central Mosque, which was: 'When will it be accepted to be gay and Muslim?'

The State Department is presenting a global webcast on February 4, titled "From the Street to Mainstream: The Evolution of Rap/Hip Hop Music." The host of the webcast, rapper and State Department Music Ambassador Toni Blackman, will be joined by Pras Michel, [snip] Some of Michel's more inflammatory comments in the past raise questions about the appropriateness of his appearance with the U.S.'s music ambassador on a government-sponsored webcast representing America to the world.

David Remnick of The New Yorker showed up on PBS’s Charlie Rose Monday night to discuss his long, mostly sympathetic profile of Barack Obama from the January 27 issue of the magazine. Near the end of the interview, Rose focused in on the president’s reported desire to be “big.” The host wondered, “[W]hat's his definition of 'big,' and does he believe in his deep recesses of his own mind that the chance of that has slipped away?” Remnick replied that no, Obama does not think his chance of being “big” has slipped away. The editor then rattled off a laundry...

Nearly three times as many BBC staff have been sent to cover Nelson Mandela’s death than all of its rival British broadcasters put together, it has been revealed. The corporation sent a total of 140 presenters and crew members to South Africa, while Sky News had the second highest number of the British broadcasters with 15. The BBC said it expected to have deployed about 120 journalists, technicians and support staff to work on the story over a ten-day period. The BBC World Service is also reported to have sent a further 20 staff, whose expenses will not be paid...

Just a few dozen stations now carry liberal talkers, as key affiliates in cities with active left-wing politics are falling like dominoes, going dark or switching formats. Detroit’s progressive outlet shut down in January, along with Seattle’s liberal talk station, which changed to sports. And after last year’s election, Portland’s progressive talk station ended its political programming. With the political battlegrounds of 2014 and 2016 on the horizon, reducing the whopping imbalance between conservative radio, with its huge fan base, and the left has become more important than ever, according to those in the progressive media world. POLITICO spoke with...

On Thursday, Fox News’ Ed Henry tweeted that MSNBC hosts Ed Schultz and Lawrence O’Donnell, as well as Ezra Klein of the Washington Post and Fox News’ Juan Williams, had been invited for a private off-the-record chat with President Obama. Obama’s signature program, Obamacare, has been flailing in the press for weeks, and Obama apparently believes that it is about time to reshift the narrative:

(CNSNews.com) - At a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee event in Philadelphia on Thursday night, President Barack Obama ended his speech by bemoaning what he called “a level of polarization that seems unique”—citing as one cause to blame for this phenomenon “the Balkanization of the media.” “Obviously, this year and over the last three years, we’ve seen a level of polarization that seems unique,” said Obama. “But the truth is, is that as you travel around the country, the country--ordinary folks--aren’t as polarized as Washington would make us think.”

President Obama's poll numbers have hit just about the lowest point of his presidency. They started sinking after the Obamacare website's miserable debut last month. Now, only around 40 percent of Americans think Obama is doing a good job. More thanhalf disapprove of his performance. (A year ago, the numbers were the opposite.) It seems obvious to say that a high approval rating helps a president, while a low approval rating hurts him. But here are five reasons Obama's numbers might not be as troublesome as they sound. He Was Never Popular With Congress Anyway A high approval rating can...

In a sign of liberal panic, NPR's Diane Rehm Show spent its first hour Monday questioning President Obama's management style. As their website elaborated on the Healthcare.gov fiasco and the NSA spying on world leaders, "the latest embarrassments have even some of the president’s supporters questioning his management style." To insure that their comments weren't too upsetting to Obama-loving NPR listeners, several journalists -- Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post and David Gergen of CNN -- insisted the Obama administration has been "relatively scandal-free" in its operations: MARCUS: This is not a scandal in the traditional sense of scandal. And...

Most Americans disapprove of the way Obama is handling his job, the poll suggests, with 53 percent unhappy with his performance and 37 percent approving of it.

(CNSNews.com) - On the first day of the “shutdown” of the federal government, when members of the U.S. Senate were going to the well of their house to point out that the shutdown would prevent the National Institutes of Health from starting clinical trials for cancer patients and others facing possibly terminal illnesses, the administration was giving $445,000,000 to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to the Daily Treasury Statement. That means PBS NewsHour, National Public Radio and Sesame Street got a taxpayer subsidy during the shutdown, but not would-be cancer patients at the NIH. The $445 million the Treasury...

Let’s face it. It’s been a little political, this whole Obamacare thing, and so what you’ve had is an unprecidented effort that you’ve seen ramp up over that month or so in which those who have opposed the idea of universal healthcare in the first place, and have fought this thing tooth and nail though Congress and courts and so forth have been have been trying to scare and discourage people from getting a good deal, and some of you may have seen the commericials out there that are a little wacky. And the main message we have, and we’re...

Michelle Obama says the beats and melodies in Latin music are so irresistible that even President Barack Obama "will shake his groove thing" Monday night. Gloria Estefan, Romeo Santos, Lila Downs, Marco Antonio Solis and other top Latin musicians are joining the Obamas to tape the latest installment of the PBS series, "In Performance at the White House." It will celebrate the various styles of Latin music during Hispanic Heritage Month, which began Sunday.

Tucked within a release naming its new president and CEO, NPR announced today that it would seek to reduce its staff by 10 percent through a voluntary buyout plan. (The Washington-based organization employed 840 people in 2012.) NPR's board of directors just approved a budget for fiscal year 2014, which includes a deficit of $6.1 million, or 3.1 percent of its $178.1 million in revenue. The buyouts are intended to help plug the spending gap and, according to the release, will be offered "broadly across the organization." The board named Paul G. Haaga, Jr. as acting president and CEO effective...

Time managing editor Rick Stengel's decision to join the Obama administration is just the latest example of a new trend among mainstream media journalists who are making it official by officially joining the Obama administration. Stengel, who is joining the State Department, is just one of 15 (or 19) who have given up a career in journalism to join Obama's crusade to fundamentally transform America:

Now for some bad news: national meteorologists expect the drought to continue or worsen through late summer and early fall in Texas, and ocean patterns are troublingly similar to those during the “drought of record” in the 1950s. Today, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its latest drought forecast. It predicts the drought will persist or intensify in most of Texas from July through October. But there is one exception — in Far West Texas, August and September rains are expected to bring some relief to an area from Midland to El Paso, according to NOAA meteorologist Victor...

Pew: Every TV News Outlet Had Coverage Supportive of Same-Sex Marriage By Alex Weprin on June 17, 2013 11:28 AM A new survey from Pew’s Project For Excellence in Journalism examines the coverage of gay marriage among the media. The big takeaway: almost every outlet presented more supportive statements in favor of gay marriage than opposing statements against gay marriage, including every TV news outlet. Pew looked at every segment on gay marriage from March 18-May 12, and classified every statement made on the issue as being supportive of gay marriage, opposed to gay marriage or neutral. As a whole,...

What’s so bad about the IRS investigating nonprofit applications? That’s their job. The real scandal is that the ensuing hubbub will discourage them from doing it again, writes Ken Stern. Over the last week, commentators have expressed great outrage over the handling by the IRS of applications by Tea Party groups and others for 501(c)(4) status. In the haste to trigger the next administration-crippling “gate,” these analyses have largely ignored one of the most surprising aspects of this entire episode—that the IRS was actually trying to do its job. A little context is warranted. There are more than 1.5 million...

On April 8, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi headlined a Boston conference on ''media reform.'' She was joined by four other congressmen, a senator, two FCC commissioners, a Nobel laureate and numerous liberal journalists. The 2,500-person event was sponsored by a group called Free Press, one of more than 180 different media-related organizations that receives money from liberal billionaire George Soros. Soros, who first made a name for himself in investing and currency trading, now makes his name in politics and policy. Since the 2004 election, the controversial financier has used his influence and billions to push a laundry list...