Free Republic

<p>The Freeper community caught something interesting in CBS’s footage of Madison’s tea party rally which featured Sarah Palin.</p> <p>MADISON, Wis. – After weeks of relative quiet following the bruising battle over an anti-union collective bargaining bill, the state Capitol was again the scene of protests and counter-protests.</p>

Devastating e-mail exchanges between a senior official with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Phoenix, AZ and a cooperating gun shop operator have been revealed by Senator Charles Grassley in a letter sent late yesterday to Attorney General Eric Holder. “In light of this new evidence,” Grassley tells Holder, “the Justice Department’s claim that the ATF never knowingly sanctioned or allowed the sale of assault weapons to straw purchasers is simply not credible.” Grassley's press release can be viewed here. CBS News' Sharyl Attkisson is reporting that the information contained in the e-mails is “damning.” The e-mail...

For Katie Couric, the offer in 2006 to become the anchor of “CBS Evening News” came with another incentive, one she prized almost as highly, according to two of her friends: the chance to report for “60 Minutes,” the newsmagazine that for Ms. Couric stood for the kind of serious journalism she had always aspired to. Regular appearances on “60 Minutes” were written into her $15 million-a-year contract with CBS, but once she arrived at the network, she found a chilly reception from some of the staff members at the venerable program. Some of Ms. Couric’s associates said that the...

Breaking: CBS News senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield is leaving the network. In an email to staff Monday night, Greenfield said he will be departing CBS at the end of April. It does not sound like the decision to leave was his own, if the email was any indication: “While I did not initiate this decision, I think it was the right one,” he wrote.

Two mainstream news organizations are receiving hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars from Obamacare’s Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP) — a $5 billion grant program that’s doling out cash to companies, states and labor unions in what the Obama administration considers an effort to pay for health insurance for early retirees. The Washington Post Company raked in $573,217 in taxpayer subsidies and CBS Corporation secured $722,388 worth of Americans’ money. “It is fine with me if they continue covering the ObamaCare debate,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, in an e-mail to The Daily Caller. “When NBC used to...

The Center for Public Integrity is reporting that an unnamed former ABC News journalist was an FBI informant during and after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, passing along tips and revealing a source. We know who it is...

As news spreads that Katie Couric will be departing as anchor of the CBS Evening News, radio giant Rush Limbaugh says Couric simply "destroyed" the network when it comes to viewership. A network executive told the Associated Press last night that Couric is leaving her anchor post less than five years after becoming the first woman to solely helm a network TV evening newscast. On his nationally broadcast radio show today, Limbaugh, a frequent critic of Couric, said, "I'm sorry, Katie, but you know facts are facts. You guys might own the narrative, but we have the facts here, and...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Katie Couric is leaving her anchor post at "CBS Evening News" less than five years after becoming the first woman to solely helm a network TV evening newscast. A network executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Couric has not officially announced her plans, reported the move to The Associated Press on Sunday night. The 54-year-old anchor is expected to launch a syndicated talk show in 2012 and several companies are vying for her services. Couric's move from NBC's "Today" show was big news in 2006, and she began in the anchor chair with a...

Katie Couric may finally get the chance to become a regular on "60 Minutes," now that she is apparently stepping down from the nightly news anchor job. An offer to become a regular correspondent for the prestigious Sunday night TV magazine is part of the package being offered Couric -- if she'll stay and do a projected daytime talk show for CBS, according to several network insiders. Ironically, Couric's 2006 contract called for her to contribute to the magazine at least six times a year, which never happened. When the show's notoriously prickly producers failed to give her any assignments,...

Barack Obama has apparently set a new administration boycott of Fox News with this week's twice snubs of the news network.On Sunday, the administration sent the duo of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to the Sunday morning talk shows of ABC, CBS and NBC. Fox was excluded even though, as anchor Chris Wallace noted, the Fox show has more viewers than two of its three rivals.Monday evening, CBS News White House reporter Mark Knoller posted on Twitter that Obama will be in New York City tomorrow for two Democrat fundraisers, the dedication of the...

The CBS Evening News anchor is very likely to leave in June and Scott Pelley is a top contender to replace her but CBS is looking both within and outside the network, Howard Kurtz reports. The search is on for Katie Couric’s successor. The new CBS News chairman, Jeff Fager, is looking at candidates both within and outside the network, insiders say. One strong contender if Couric vacates the anchor chair in early June, as now seems almost certain, is veteran newsman Scott Pelley. The 60 Minutes correspondent has long been a favorite of Fager, who doubles as the show’s...

The CBS Evening News anchor is very likely to leave in June and Scott Pelley is a top contender to replace her but CBS is looking both within and outside the network, Howard Kurtz reports. The search is on for Katie Couric’s successor. The new CBS News chairman, Jeff Fager, is looking at candidates both within and outside the network, insiders say. One strong contender if Couric vacates the anchor chair in early June, as now seems almost certain, is veteran newsman Scott Pelley. The 60 Minutes correspondent has long been a favorite of Fager, who doubles as the show’s...

In a report for Thursday's CBS Early Show, contributor Taryn Winter Brill fretted over the impact of movie theater popcorn on Americans' waistlines: "Have you ever wondered how many calories you're actually consuming in that large popcorn with butter? You probably don't want to know. Pretty soon, though, you may not have a choice." Moments later, nutritionist Katherine Brooking declared the popular concession treat to be "a calorie bomb waiting to explode." Brill then touted a government solution to the problem: "Hoping to defuse this high caloric catastrophe, the FDA is working on a provision in the health care law...

At the top of Thursday's CBS Early Show, co-host Chris Wragge acknowledged for the first time on the network that members of Congress were criticizing the Obama administration for failing to seek their approval on military action in Libya: "In Washington, the Speaker of the House takes on President Obama as to why he didn't talk to Congress before launching the attacks." While that tease seemed to suggest further discussion of the criticism during the show's Libya coverage, not a single word was mentioned throughout the rest of the broadcast. If a viewer missed those six seconds they would have...

Katie Couric’s position at CBS News has come under question recently as reports have indicated both that their head anchorwoman may be looking for another home or that the network is attempting to significantly reduce her pay. And now resident media man at The O’Reilly Factor and veteran analyst Bernie Goldberg is betting his hat on it: “As anchorwoman of the CBS News, when her contract is out, she is gone.” The discussion came up at the tail end of a segment on the President’s approval ratings and the Libya situation– a much more politics-heavy Weekday with Bernie than his...

Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan is likeable, fun-loving, and quick to tell a joke - but he can also deliver a mean theological argument on some of the Catholic church's most conservative beliefs. Dolan is known as "the American Pope" and he's often considered the most important Catholic in America today. He's also a scholar and a passionate defender of the church's traditional views on what he calls "settled questions." If you've ever wondered why exactly the Catholic church opposes gay marriage and ordination of women as priests, listen to Dolan articulate the church's beliefs. It's far from...

Numerous death threats were made against Wisconsin Republican lawmakers last week, but you wouldn't know about it if your only news sources were ABC, CBS, MSNBC, NBC, and NPR.Bucking the boycott was Fox News's Bill O'Reilly Friday (video follows with transcript and commentary):BILL O'REILLY: But first, death threats in Wisconsin and that is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points" memo. The attorney general's office in that state investigating a number of death threats against some Republicans who voted to diminish union power.A radio station obtained this email, quote: "Please put your things in order because you

On CBS Evening News, congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes implied that the House Homeland Security Committee hearing on the radicalization of American Muslims was simply a political show staged by chairman Peter King. She declared that "King's own past assertion that most U.S. mosques are run by radicals" resulted in "poisoning the hearing." She praised the emotional testimony of Rep. Keith Ellison. [Keith "the Muslim from Minnesota" Ellison took his oath of office on the koran and once wrote an article defending Louis Farrakhan against charges of anti-Semitism. He admits to close ties and collaboration with the Nation of Islam. In...

Everyone is talking about the Pentagon-sponsored study which concludes that the 2008 economic meltdown may have been deliberately triggered. Oh wait − not everyone is talking about it. In fact, few people have even heard of it. I didn’t learn of the study from ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, or liberal newspapers. I learned of it only by surfing conservative websites that reference the Washington Times. The study was prepared in 2009, but it was just made public. The study does not say that the economic meltdown was the result of deliberate action − that is, economic terrorism − but...

At the top of Saturday's CBS Early Show, co-host Russ Mitchell cheered unions protests across the country: "Workers uniting. 50 rallies are planned in 50 states today, as organizers show solidarity with Wisconsin state workers, fighting to preserve their right to collectively bargain for benefits and work conditions." Introducing the segment later, fellow co-host Rebecca Jarvis noted how the protests were organized by MoveOn.org. Rather than accurately label the organization as left-wing, she simply referred to it as "an advocacy group."