Free Republic

The traditional newspaper is dying. The Evening Standard has been sold off for a pound to a former KGB agent, the Los Angeles Times is bankrupt and even the New York Times is in trouble. Mexican plutocrat Carlos Slim may become its largest shareholder in return for financing the paper's billion-dollar debt. Except for the financial press, newspapers have failed to convince readers to pay for online access – and there is no reason to think that readers will suddenly succumb to the charms of PayPal. The newspaper bust has been good for one business. Policy wonks have been charging...

The Arab fabrications and spinning is now in overdrive, as the terrorist-associated media has article after article each with more ridiculous claims than the one before. Paltoday describes scenes of dead women and children, of course killed with "phosphorus bombs," being eaten by dogs in the streets of Gaza camps. Many terror-supporting doctors are throwing in their expertise in these claims, such as one who said that "white phosphorus kills brain cells" which explains why otherwise lightly injured children are dying. Another "eyewitness" describes how the IDF poured gasoline on his body and threatened to light him up. Of course,...

At Erik Svansbo’s Sweidsh blog, more information about the pro-terrorist agenda of Mads Gilbert, the doctor seen in that staged video from a Gaza hospital: Doctor in CNN video outspoken communist and pro-terror. The doctor’s colleague actually told the Aftonbladet newspaper that spreading pro-Hamas propaganda is more important to them than their medical work—and the Norwegian organization for which they work is a partner with Hezbollah’s “Martyr Foundation.” In Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, Mads Gilbert’s norwegian colleague Erik Fosse reported about his work in Gaza: Two Norwegian doctors have worked hard for seven days to save lives in Gaza. But to...

Ontario's largest university workers union is proposing a ban on Israeli academics teaching in the province's universities, in a move that echoes previous attempts to boycott goods and services from the Jewish state. The resolution, proposed by CUPE's Ontario University Workers Coordinating Committee, is in protest of a Dec. 29 bombing that damaged the Islamic University in Gaza. "In response to an appeal from the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees, we are ready to say Israeli academics should not be on our campuses unless they explicitly condemn the university bombing and the assault on Gaza in...

Britian's National Union of Journalists has voted at its annual meeting for a boycott of Israeli goods as part of a protest against the Second Lebanon War, the British daily Guardian reported on its Web site Friday evening. The vote was carried 66 to 54 - a result that met with mixed responses from the NJU delegates present. The motion came during a series of motions on international affairs and read: "This ADM [annual delegate meeting] calls for a boycott of Israeli goods similar to those boycotts in the struggles against apartheid South Africa led by trade unions and the...

A BBC mole has sent me this briefing for BBC staff from the BBC's Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen, on what lies ahead this year. It’s all too predictable. The "fragmentation" of Palestinian society has, in Mr Bowen’s view, nothing to do with the Palestinians and everything to do with Israel (“the death of hope, caused by a cocktail of Israel's military activities, land expropriation and settlement building – and the financial sanctions imposed on the Hamas led government”). Indeed, Israel is to blame for almost everything. The Palestinians are not responsible for anything; Israel is the culpable party. He...

Separating Hyperbole From Horror in Iraq By TOM ZELLER Jr. Published: December 4, 2006 Over the course of last week, an Associated Press article — one subsequently challenged by the military — in which six Sunni worshipers were reportedly doused in kerosene and burned alive by Shiite attackers, became the worst kind of totem. For bloggers who believe that the media has been drawing false pictures of mayhem in Iraq, the insistence of the American military and Iraqi officials that the burning incident appeared to be a mere rumor was proof that their suspicions were correct. “Getting the News From...

WHAT THE BRITISH ARE READING ABOUT US THIS TODAY [Kathryn Jean Lopez] From a friend in London: this is from The Sun, the UK's largest newspaper, on saturday, Sept 10 2005, in a column by Jeremy Clarkson. I quote this verbatim (it's not up on their website, so i'm typing it in) "Hollywood has taught America that the military can solve anything. It's full of chisel-jawed heroes who never leave a man on the field and never fail to get the job done. So they'd have New Orleans sorted out in a jiffy. Unfortunately, on the street you've got some...

Local girl takes second place in 9/11 art contest Advocacy group gives her $100 prize for artwork with a statement By Tara Ramroop, STAFF WRITER SAN MATEO — Hannah Stutz, 11, turned her love of art into a heavy political statement that earned her second place in a peace organization's art contest. The soon-to-be Borel Middle School student recently beat out a handful of youth applicants in the Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance's "9/11 Truth for Peace and Justice" art contest, picking up a $100 prize. The group believes that the U.S. government isn't telling the whole truth or giving...

Prime-time Republicans are hard to take BY HUGH PEARSON Hugh Pearson is currently working on a biography of James Weldon Johnson and is a publisher of the Web site, NYAge.Net. September 2, 2004 As I watched Tuesday night's network coverage of the unrelenting political propaganda hour known as the Republican National Convention, the first thought that came to mind was of old newsreels of those self-congratulatory Nazi rallies held in Germany during the reign of Adolf Hitler. For many people, I'm sure, such a comparison sounds extreme. Yet, just as the Nazis were obsessed with endless displays of swastikas, the...

Iran TV journalist arrested in Najaf Agence France-Presse Tehran, August 15 A journalist for the Arabic service of Iran's state broadcaster was detained live on television Sunday as US troops led a renewed offensive against Shiite Muslim militiamen in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf. Mohammad Kazem, an Iraqi correspondent of Iran's Al-Alam channel, was detained at gunpoint by Iraqi police during the live interview from a Najaf rooftop. At 10 am (0600 GMT) on Sunday, Najaf police chief General Ghaleb al-Jazairi had given all journalists two hours to leave ahead of a renewed assault on militia positions in the...

NEWS RELEASE HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND 7115 South Boundary Boulevard MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101 Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- June 3, 2004 Release Number: 04-06-09 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE COALITION SOLDIERS QUESTION NEWS MEDIA FOLLOWING ROADSIDE BOMB MOSUL, Iraq - Coalition soldiers questioned two news media cameramen and a reporter after a roadside bomb exploded near a Coalition convoy two kilometers north of Mosul June 3. The media, who were at the scene prior to the attack, told soldiers at the scene they had received a tip to be at that location prior to the attack...

DEPLETED URANIUM SHELLS DECRIED Citizens find Bush guilty of Afghan war crimes By NAO SHIMOYACHI Staff writer A citizens' tribunal Saturday in Tokyo found U.S. President George W. Bush guilty of war crimes for attacking civilians with indiscriminate weapons and other arms during the U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in Afghanistan in 2001. The tribunal also issued recommendations for banning depleted uranium shells and other weapons that could indiscriminately harm people, compensating the victims in Afghanistan and reforming the United Nations in light of its failure to stop the U.S.-led operation there. The tribunal participants spent two years examining Bush's role as...