Free Republic

I am warming up to watch the documentary Rather, celebrating the career of the disgraced former CBS News anchor. It is to be aired this coming Wednesday on Netflix. Apparently having access to a screener for media critics, the Star Tribune’s Neal Justin found the documentary to be wanting (“when it comes to the stumbles, like walking off the set when a tennis match went long, the legendary broadcaster goes missing”). Speaking of “stumbles,” we have the matter of Rathergate. However, “stumble” doesn’t quite capture it. “Disgrace,” “disaster,” and “fraud” are more like it. Award-winning CBS News producer Mary Mapes...

This is TEXAS: Plano Retiree Fed Up With Men Seeking Sex Workers Knocking on Her Door "I have my Smith & Wesson 357 Magnum loaded 4-inch barrel next to me and I answer the door with it." By Maria Guerrero • Published January 25, 2023 • Updated 6 mins ago Men from across North Texas in search of sex workers are mistakenly traveling to a quiet Plano neighborhood and knocking on the door of a retired woman. It’s been nonstop since it started happening last year, Elaine White says. The latest "John" came knocking just last week, and she’s fed...

David Chipman, the gun control activist who President Biden nominated today to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) claimed last year that members of the Branch Davidian sect shot down two helicopters during a standoff with federal agents in Waco in 1993. That is certainly an odd statement considering it didn’t happen and Chipman served 25 years with the ATF. Chipman posted the comments as part of a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” event and even posted a photograph on the Reddit thread to confirm his identity. In response to a comment about the Waco siege from...

An important anniversary passed this month and predictably received no attention. *** On September 8, 2004, CBS’s “60 Minutes” used forged government documents as the basis for a story that attacked the military record of then-President George W. Bush. It was bad enough that CBS used forged government documents, but what made it worse was that CBS aired this story during the presidential election and timed the airing to coincide with the rollout of Democrat John Kerry’s “favorite son” campaign theme. CBS thus provided the “news” upon which the Democrat candidate based his attack ads. The CBS story was quickly...

I was asked by our local chapter of the Cardozo Society — an affinity group of Jewish lawyers of which I am a member — to speak over lunch as a counterpart to ABA Foundation Fellow and historian Victoria Saker Woeste on the subject of fake news at the society’s October 8 continuing legal education program. Ms. Woeste was the featured speaker. Her theme was that the term “fake news” is anti-Semitic in origin and that President Trump’s use of it, knowingly or not, is wrongful. Her talk expanded on her Washington Post column (accessible via Outline here) making this...

Dan Rather Laments That Americans Think the Media ‘Make Up Stories’ Y: Alex Griswold November 7, 2017 5:37 pm Former CBS journalist Dan Rather appeared on NBC "Today" on Tuesday where he lamented on the American people's lack of trust in the media. "There’s a recent poll that said nearly half of people think the media make up stories," host Savannah Guthrie noted. "The media itself is under fire." "What do you think the media needs to do better to enhance its own credibility?" she asked. "We need to do a better job, we need to do our job. Our...

Future generations may mark today as one of the truly dark days in American history, a history that may soon take an even more ominous turn. President Trump’s sudden firing of FBI Director James Comey is a matter that should deeply concern every American, regardless of party, partisan politics or ideological leanings. The independence of our law enforcement is at the bedrock of our democracy. That independence, already grievously shaken under the brief tenure of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is now shattered by uncertainty. The firing of an FBI Director is always a very serious matter in normal times. But...

Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather is teaching an online course in journalism called “finding the truth in the news” at UDemy. Now, he’s taken to Facebook to say that the media, the American people, and the political class has to call out President Trump on his lies. No, this isn’t the Onion.“These are not normal times. These are extraordinary times. And extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures,” wrote Rather. “What can we do? We can all step up and say simply and without equivocation. "A lie, is a lie, is a lie!" And if someone won't say it, those...

Interview with Harry MacDougald the Atlanta lawyer who's initial questioning of the validity of the Killian documents exposed the flaw CBS report about George W. Bush's National Guard Service.

Dan Rather is coming to your local movie theater. At least the story behind why he’s no longer at CBS is. In “Truth,” Robert Redford plays Rather. Cate Blanchett plays his CBS producer Mary Mapes. In 2004, Rather reported that President George W. Bush’s powerful father arranged to keep his son in the National Guard to prevent serving in Vietnam. The report caused such hoo-hah that a treasured 24-year anchorman lost his job. Dan: “I’ve read the script. It’s serious. People behind it do a good job. It’s two great actors. You couldn’t want for a better cast. Redford playing...

Mandy Walker, ASC, ACS, recently checked in from the set of Truth, a feature film about Dan Rather’s abrupt departure from CBS News in 2005 in the wake of reports that raised questions about George W. Bush’s military service during the Vietnam War. Robert Redford portrays Rather, and Cate Blanchett plays CBS producer Mary Mapes, who was fired for her role in the incident. Directed by James Vanderbilt, the production is currently shooting in Australia, in part to allow Blanchett some time close to home. Mandy says Truth is an elaborate story that’s heavy on dialogue; the story unfolds in...

It’s been nearly eight years since Dan Rather’s long career at CBS came to a close after he ran a story that could have derailed President George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection. Instead, the story about Bush’s supposedly questionable National Guard service wound up giving the media a black eye after some of the documents used to in the report turned out to be fake. Nonetheless, Rather is still at it, making the case that he was in the right and that the only reason he was forced out at CBS was because of pressure from his corporate superiors. Rather made...

Be kind to Bob Shrum. Perhaps the 68-year old is suffering from the not-so-early-onset of some dread memory-loss syndrome. How else to explain his suggestion on Al Sharpton's MSNBC show this evening that the National Restaurant Association's settlement for a relatively modest sum, in today's litigious world, proves that Herman Cain must have done something wrong? Does the failed presidential campaign consultant's support of Bill Clinton, despite his much larger, $850,000 settlement with Paula Jones while "adamantly denying" her claims, fire any synapses in Shrum's cerebrum? View the video here.

A 70 plus age retired Texas Air National Guard Lt. Colonel has been diagnosed with Stage 3 lung cancer. During the Bush debate in the media concerning whether or not Bush completed his obligation to the State of Texas, this is the guy the Bush people requested to review his service records. Please offer prayers for my friend.

Media Bias: Veteran reporter, author and commentator Bernard Goldberg reports that when CBS News did its fake National Guard story on George W. Bush avoiding service in Vietnam, it knew it was a lie.It's a liberal urban legend that Bush used the influence of his father and his father's friends to land a cushy position in the Texas National Guard to avoid service in Vietnam. The Democrats would run John Kerry as a hero in the war, and CBS News was all too eager to help with Mary Mapes producing a "60 Minutes II" segment in September 2004 charging exactly...

This story by Bernard Goldberg certainly takes me back to the early days of my blogging career. Shortly after the 2004 Republican convention, Mary Mapes produced a segment for 60 Minutes II that alleged that George W. Bush had manipulated his enlistment in the Texas Air National Guard to avoid serving in combat in Vietnam. The documents used by CBS, Mapes, and Dan Rather turned out to be clumsy hoaxes, which the blogosphere exposed through careful review of their substance and their form (the latter of which I played a small part in refuting, with my expertise in printing and...

Bernard Goldberg is getting a good bit of attention for something he said on O'Reilly tonight -- that documents show the CBS investigation in 2004 revealed that George Bush volunteered to fly combat missions in Vietnam. The following is from his website, Bernard Goldberg.com (via Newsbusters):

In 2007, Rather filed his $70 million lawsuit against his old company saying he wasn’t allowed to defend his story because the top management of CBS’ parent company, Viacom, wanted to appease the Bush Administration and protect its business interests. Until now, the controversy over the Rather/Mapes story has centered almost entirely on one issue: the legitimacy of the documents – a very important issue, indeed. But it turns out that there was another very important issue, one that goes to the very heart of what the story was about – and one that has gone virtually unnoticed. This is...

Over 1,100 years ago, an international crew of men set sail on a perilous journey. They are returning home from Tang Dynasty China with rare ceramics and gold, created by ninth-century Chinese craftsmen, desired by the rest of the world. For centuries, China has traded with the West over land, via the Silk Road. They traveled safely from the Middle East, all the way to China. But on their return voyage, they made a fateful decision. Here, off the coast of Indonesia, the reef-filled waters are so deadly that ancient sailors called the area the Treacherous Bay. Tilman Walterfang was...

Note: Photo included. PHOTO CAPTION: "Businessman Weizhen Tang has been accused of taking more than $40 million from more than 100 investors." "Weizhen Tang to defend against Ponzi allegations" Jun 11, 2009 04:30 AM MADHAVI ACHARYA-TOM YEW BUSINESS REPORTER SNIPPET: "The charges include securities fraud, unregistered trading in securities, illegal distributions of securities and making prohibited undertakings with the intention of effecting trades in securities, which were alleged to have taken place between Jan. 1, 2006, and March 31, 2009. The province's Securities Act states that no person or company can give written or oral representations on the future value...