Editor's Note: MRC President Brent Bozell issued the following statement in reaction to news that MSNBC had suspended Countdown host Keith Olbermann “indefinitely” for donating to three Democratic candidates in violation of NBC's policy. In October, Olbermann had blasted political donations from Fox News owner News Corp, slamming Fox as “a media outlet that has now put its money where everybody has known its mouth has always been.” Keith Olbermann is officially the Worst Hypocrite in the World. He rails about a ‘national cable news outlet’ that ‘starts to donate to partisan groups of one party,’ then does exactly that. But it begs a bigger questions: why did it take NBC so long? This man has been using his perch as a newsman at MSNBC to promote a radical left-wing and hate-filled agenda for years. And they fire him over three contributions? NBC needs to review its own policies.” (Video below page break) read more
Continue reading …
MSNBC pundit Keith Olbermann joked after the midterms, responding to taunts from certain Fox News types, that he was still around despite the lashing Dems took at the polls. But as it turns out, he might have committed career suicide, or something close to it, on his own. Perhaps Olbermann wasn’t up on the company rules about campaign contributions, or perhaps he thought that somehow his might go unnoticed, but Politico followed his money trail and the network’s top brass lowered the boom on Friday.
Continue reading …MSNBC Suspends Keith Olbermann Indefinitely for Secret Democrat Donations
November 5, 2010 No Comment
Updates abound. Check below the fold for much, much more. MSNBC suspended Keith Olbermann indefinitely today after news broke that he had given the maximum allowable contribution to three Democrats without disclosing it to his viewers. CBS News reported on the suspension about 20 minutes ago, with a more detailed statement from MSNBC brass: “I became aware of Keith's political contributions late last night,” Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC, said in a statement. “Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.” read more
Continue reading …MSNBC suspended Keith Olbermann indefinitely today after news broke that he had given the maximum allowable contribution to three Democrats without disclosing it to his viewers. CBS News reported on the suspension about 20 minutes ago, with a more detailed statement from MSNBC brass: “I became aware of Keith's political contributions late last night,” Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC, said in a statement. “Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.” read more
Continue reading …
Two things are a given at the beginning of every month: Rent is due and U.S. employment figures are released. In regards to the latter, the U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs in October, reverting a trend of four months of job losses but not enough to quantitatively change the rock-hard 9.6 percent unemployment rate. Underemployment, a better gauge at actual employment figures, did manage to decrease from 17.1 percent to 17.0 percent. That means that 17 percent of working Americans are unemployed, unable to find full-time work, or have given up looking for employment. —JCL The New York Times: The United States economy added 151,000 jobs in October, a welcome change after four months of job losses but still not enough to make a dent in unemployment. Private companies have been expanding their payrolls throughout 2010, according to a Labor Department report released Friday. Private job growth had been overwhelmed by the elimination of temporary decennial Census jobs and layoffs by state and local government during the summer and early fall — until October. On many levels, the October report was much stronger than expected. Forecasters had been expecting a gain of only 60,000 jobs. The report also revised the numbers for August and September, showing 110,000 fewer jobs losses than previously estimated. Hourly wages were slightly higher, too. Read more Related Entries November 3, 2010 The Tea Party and the Midterms November 3, 2010 Federal Reserve Finds $600 Billion in the Couch
Continue reading …
Like a chubby kid doing a chin-up, a group of finance ministers and heads of state has declared that it is “challenging but feasible” to generate $100 billion a year by 2020 to fund a program allowing developing countries to adapt to the effects of climate change and reduce domestic emissions. Such a flow of aid could substantially increase the probability for a new global climate agreement, experts believe. The $100 billion for the developing world is slated to come from carbon taxes, permit auctions and transport taxes. —JCL The Guardian: Guaranteeing major new aid flows for developing countries has become a prerequisite for a new climate agreement, but many developing countries argue that the $100bn on offer from rich countries falls far short of the funding necessary to help 130 poor countries which face devastating climate change. Others want the money to be drawn wholly from public finance sources which they say is more predictable. Developing countries declined to react until they had read the report in detail but non-governmental groups said that initial analysis suggested that all the money could be raised from public funds. Tracy Carty, Oxfam climate change policy adviser, said: “The $100bn committed to in the Copenhagen accord must come from public sources of funding rather than private to ensure it reaches communities desperately in need of money to help them adapt to climate change and develop in a low-carbon way. Private finance cannot meet the needs of developing countries for adaptation.” Read more Related Entries November 4, 2010 Obama Calls Bipartisan Power Meeting November 3, 2010 Obama Finds the Lesson in His Midterm ‘Shellacking’
Continue reading …
Dual explosions have rattled Pakistan after two bomb attacks on mosques left at least 63 people dead and scores of others injured. Pakistani’s Taliban Movement has since claimed responsibility for the most lethal attack where a 17-year-old suicide bomber detonated inside a Sunni mosque in northwest Pakistan. —JCL Al-Jazeera English: At least 60 people have been killed and dozens of others injured after a 17-year-old suicide bomber struck a Sunni Muslim mosque in northwest Pakistan during Friday prayers. The blast collapsed part of the mosque’s roof on top of worshippers, and there are fears the death toll from the explosion could rise. A local official said 11 children were among the dead, Dawn newspaper reported. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistan Taliban Movement, claimed responsibility for the attack, which was not the first against the mosque, Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder reported. The suicide bomber’s explosive weighed between 10 to 15 kilograms, Hyder said. “There are blood and body parts everywhere. Elderly people and children are among the dead and wounded. I have not seen such a tragic scene in my whole life,’’ said villager Zafar Khan, according to the Associated Press news agency. Read more Related Entries November 3, 2010 The Tea Party and the Midterms November 3, 2010 Federal Reserve Finds $600 Billion in the Couch
Continue reading …
As Burma approaches its first election in 20 years, a “distributed denial of service” attack has paralyzed Internet use within the dictator-ed country, knocking Burmese citizens from online communication in what analysts believe is an attempt by the ruling military dictatorship to restrict the flow of information in the country. The “distributed denial of service” attack is just a fancy way of saying that many computers were programmed to very rapidly visit certain web sites, overwhelming the national network with millions of automatic web page requests. The last election seen in Burma was in 1990 when democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi won a landslide victory… which was then ignored by the ruling military dictatorship. —JCL ’ The BBC: ed An ongoing computer attack has knocked Burma off the internet, just days ahead of its first election in 20 years. The attack started in late October but has grown in the last few days to overwhelm the nation’s link to the net, said security firm Arbor Networks. Reports from Burma say the disruption is ongoing. Read more Related Entries November 3, 2010 The Tea Party and the Midterms November 3, 2010 Federal Reserve Finds $600 Billion in the Couch
Continue reading …
The historic “shellacking” that Democrats suffered on Tuesday night brought out the worst in Obama's acolytes in the mainstream media, giving NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell plenty to talk about on Sean Hannity's eponymous November 4 program. Appearing via satellite for the popular recurring “Media Mash” segment, Bozell and Hannity first tackled who else but Chris Matthews. Clearly frustrated with the 2010 midterms and anticipating the 2012 presidential race, Matthews all but called former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) an illiterate. “Would she look like an imbecile” on “Jeopardy!”, Matthews asked Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) Tuesday night during live election coverage on MSNBC.
Continue reading …
By Eugene Robinson Amid the wreckage of Tuesday’s GOP rampage, there’s one person for whom I feel awful: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She’s losing her job not because she does it poorly but because she does it so well. Related Entries November 5, 2010 From Uprising to Hostile Takeover … and Back Again November 4, 2010 Obama Calls Bipartisan Power Meeting
Continue reading …