Free Republic

The question facing the administration is less whether to launch a military strike, but what would come next The challenge facing President Barack Obama and his political and military advisers is this: How to "punish" the regime of President Bashar al-Assad for its alleged use of chemical weapons on civilians, but not punish it too severely, lest that destroy a government whose survival is deemed preferable, for U.S. regional interests, to one led by extremists. While the administration appeared to be gearing up this week for some form of military response to an incident denounced by Secretary of State John...

She compares the US to Qatar: "Al Jazeera doesn't generate revenue now anyway, it is a cost to the Qatari government, it's not a commercial decision, it's a very long term decision from an oil rich state." She continues: "Al Jazeera wishes to compete with CNN and the BBC...it presents a different perspective on the Arab Israeli conflict."

Current TV CEO Joel Hyatt just confirmed the sale in a memo to staffers. “Getting this transaction done was very difficult,” he writes. (Read the network’s official statement after the original break of the story.) Since Time Warner Cable would not consent to the sale “Current will no longer be carried on TWC. This is unfortunate, but I am confident that Al Jazeera America will earn significant additional carriage in the months and years ahead.” Time Warner Cable says that it is “removing the service as quickly as possible.” The loss of the No. 2 cable operator will hurt: Time...

As I noted earlier today, Al-Jazeera has been dubbed "the most powerful voice of the Muslim Brotherhood." And Pamela Geller has noted that "Al Jazeera is the leading terrorist propaganda organization in the world. Jihad murder mastermind Anwar al-Awlaki has praised Al Jazeera, and several years ago one of its most prominent reporters was arrested on terror charges. Al Jazeera also has for years been the recipient of numerous Al Qaeda videos featuring bin Laden, Zawahiri, and American traitor Adam Gadahn. Yet they never seem to be able to trace where these videos are coming from. They have repeatedly been...

Al Jazeera on Wednesday completed a deal to take over Current TV, the low-rated cable channel that was founded by Al Gore and his business partners seven years ago. Current will provide the pan-Arab news giant with something it has sought for years: a pathway into American living rooms. Current is available in about 60 million of the 100 million homes in the United States with cable or satellite service. Rather than simply use Current to distribute its English-language channel, called Al Jazeera English and based in Doha, Qatar, Al Jazeera will create a new channel, called Al Jazeera America,...

Mitt Romney has been implicated in a complex case involving perjury, stock manipulation, and possibly consumer fraud. Mitt Romney lied in the divorce proceedings of his wealthy friend, Tom Stemberg, founder of Staples, according to a story by radaronline.com. At least that is what Stemberg's former wife, Maureen, says. She is a MS patient who says her husband was so vindictive he even cut off her health insurance. Unfortunately the records for this case have been sealed, and participants are unable to discuss them. Other forces are in motion to lift the gag order. It is a matter of public...

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea wants the U.S. to show remorse for the actions of two American journalists convicted of illegally entering the country, and it might free the women if Washington does so, a scholar who visited Pyongyang said Saturday. The comments by North Korean officials to University of Georgia political scientist Han S. Park came as analysts say the isolated communist regime intends to use the detention of Laura Ling and Euna Lee as bargaining chips in its ongoing standoff with Washington over the country's nuclear and missile threats. The journalists were detained in March near the...

Don't fall for North Korea's trap -- Rogue states are using US reporters as pawns. -- Only swift retribution will stop the cynical game. -- By Allan Richarz from the June 8, 2009 edition Print this Letter to the Editor Republish -- KANNAMACHI, JAPAN - With North Korea's conviction and sentencing of two American journalists today to 12 years of prison labor, reporters have again been used as proxies in a cynical game waged by rogue states to gain leverage in negotiations with the West. This follows on the heels of now-freed Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who was released last...

In the 1990s, liberal icon Thomas Frank’s journal, The Baffler, released a collection called Commodify Your Dissent. This compiled some of the strongest pieces from the crankily idiosyncratic quarterly, all revolving around the theme that there are pop-culture hucksters queuing up to profit from the well-worn paths of youth deviance. Considered en masse, the collection held that the youth would be better off creating subcultures that couldn’t be defined in a pat way, in order to escape corporate shaping of their desires. Times have changed. Thomas Frank has become part of the liberal establishment he once decried. Meanwhile, that liberal...

just visited this thing. i am sure it will be a hugh hit! siriusly!/sarc and if i screwed this up wellll, i r not too savvy at this yet