Justice secretary urged to quit after plan to give 50% sentence discounts to offenders who submit early guilty pleas is ditched Kenneth Clarke has insisted the decision to abandon plans to offer 50% sentence discounts to offenders who submit early guilty pleas is not “another U-turn” by the government. The justice secretary faced calls for his resignation after David Cameron forced him to ditch all his plans for sentence discounts following outcry from the Tory right and the tabloids. Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said the move was yet another example of the government putting forward a proposal which “hasn’t been thought through”. But Clarke sought to present the changes to the original plans, both on legal aid and on sentencing, as part of a “perfectly balanced” package of radical reforms. He told the BBC: “We’ve changed parts of it, both on legal aid and on sentencing. It’s not another U-turn; it’s a perfectly balanced package of radical reform, which is very necessary, and obviously I have to first of all discuss it in cabinet and then explain it to my parliamentary colleagues.” Cameron will announce the change at a Downing Street press conference on Tuesday, when the Ministry of Justice publishes its justice bill containing proposals for tougher community sentences and the introduction of a payment-by-results system to reduce prisoner reoffending. Cameron was lambasted by Miliband in the Commons earlier this month for overseeing a “total mess” on sentencing after another apparent climbdown on a key policy when it emerged the government had decided to withdraw plans for the discount for rapists following a public backlash. At the time, the prime minister backed Clarke, who personally championed the sentencing reforms, saying he was doing a “superb job”. But he has now forced the justice secretary to drop the plans entirely. Reacting to the news, Miliband said: “The public were rightly appalled in the first place that the government was proposing that people who committed rape should see their sentences cut by 50% and be let out within as little as 15 months. “The prime minister has got to ask how he got himself into this position in the first place of making a proposal which wasn’t thought through. It’s yet another example of this government not being in touch with people and making proposals which they then have to abandon.” The father of murdered schoolboy Damilola Taylor welcomed the U-turn and called on Clarke to be “removed” as justice secretary. “Ken Clarke is not doing the right thing, his advisers are not giving him the right advice on the issue,” Richard Taylor said. “He does not know what is going on in the streets, he does not know what criminality is about. He is taking decisions about what he does not know about. David Cameron’s decision to abandon the Ken Clarke statement is right.” Victims’ group Families Fighting for Justice also called for Clarke to resign. Jean Taylor, the founder of the group, said that more than 1,000 people had signed an online petition calling for his resignation and urged Clarke to meet victims to hear their experiences first hand: “Ken Clarke lives in la la land. If he can say that a rapist deserves 50% off for an early guilty plea then what world does he live in? He does not live in the real world.” The current discount is a third, and an extension to 50% would have meant a big drop in the prison population. The decision will mean the Ministry of Justice has to find as much as £100m in extra savings over four years from elsewhere in its budget. Most will come from a further squeeze on probation. The Treasury has said it is willing to see the justice ministry change the speed at which it finds savings. No official confirmation was available from Downing Street before a meeting of the cabinet on Tuesday and Cameron’s press conference. No 10 argues that trust in the criminal justice system is so low that it would be unable to sell a cut in sentences in return for early guilty pleas. Cameron’s advisers have told him his party is losing its grip on the law and order agenda. The Liberal Democrat leadership, which had promised to side with Clarke, appeared to have accepted defeat. A Lib Dem source said the 50% discount was not a party policy: “We never said we would want to bring it in. We are not totally wedded to it, and it is not a big loss.” Clarke’s original green paper proposal was expected to produce savings of £210m a year by reducing the demand for prison places by 6,000. Ministry of Justice officials estimated that this would cut the record 85,000 prison population in England and Wales by 3,000 by the time of the next general election. Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the probation union Napo, warned that the change of plan would lead to higher costs and more people behind bars as well as “a serious hole” in his department’s finances. The prison population in England and Wales stood at 85,345 on Friday, just 150 short of last October’s record high of 85,495. Fletcher said: “Further cuts to legal aid, the courts and probation are inevitable. This is a serious dent in Ken Clarke’s hopes to reduce the prison population. Abandoning the [50%] discount means the prison population will not be drastically reduced, therefore, cuts to courts, legal aid and probation will be worse than expected. “Cuts to all three will mean more people will end up in custody because the probation service will not be able to run programmes or supervise offenders in the community.” Other proposals expected on Tuesday include removing the courts’ option of remanding in custody defendants who are unlikely to receive a prison sentence. This would save 1,300 prison places a year. Other proposals include deporting more foreign prisoners (500 places), a new release test for those serving indeterminate sentences for public protection (300 to 600 places), and diverting mentally ill prisoners into community health treatment services (650 prison places). The justice minister, Crispin Blunt, gave a broad hint last week that any need to find further savings in the Ministry of Justice budget as a result of changes to the sentencing package were likely to come from the courts and probation services. Blunt told MPs that probation had so far been “quite significantly protected” from his department’s 23% budget cuts. The plans have provoked fierce opposition, particularly from the solicitors’ organisation, the Law Society. One initial recommendation was to withdraw legal aid in family cases, except those involving allegations of domestic violence. Critics warned that this would provide a perverse incentive to exaggerate grievances. Des Hudson, the Law Society chief executive, said he feared that cuts to legal aid could be even deeper than the proposed £350m because less money may be saved by keeping people out of prison. He said: “This means they will come to the budget with sharpened pencils. We will not stand by and see the most vulnerable left with no access to justice.” Kenneth Clarke Sentencing UK criminal justice Prisons and probation Patrick Wintour Alan Travis Allegra Stratton Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Justice secretary urged to quit after plan to give 50% sentence discounts to offenders who submit early guilty pleas is ditched Kenneth Clarke has insisted the decision to abandon plans to offer 50% sentence discounts to offenders who submit early guilty pleas is not “another U-turn” by the government. The justice secretary faced calls for his resignation after David Cameron forced him to ditch all his plans for sentence discounts following outcry from the Tory right and the tabloids. Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said the move was yet another example of the government putting forward a proposal which “hasn’t been thought through”. But Clarke sought to present the changes to the original plans, both on legal aid and on sentencing, as part of a “perfectly balanced” package of radical reforms. He told the BBC: “We’ve changed parts of it, both on legal aid and on sentencing. It’s not another U-turn; it’s a perfectly balanced package of radical reform, which is very necessary, and obviously I have to first of all discuss it in cabinet and then explain it to my parliamentary colleagues.” Cameron will announce the change at a Downing Street press conference on Tuesday, when the Ministry of Justice publishes its justice bill containing proposals for tougher community sentences and the introduction of a payment-by-results system to reduce prisoner reoffending. Cameron was lambasted by Miliband in the Commons earlier this month for overseeing a “total mess” on sentencing after another apparent climbdown on a key policy when it emerged the government had decided to withdraw plans for the discount for rapists following a public backlash. At the time, the prime minister backed Clarke, who personally championed the sentencing reforms, saying he was doing a “superb job”. But he has now forced the justice secretary to drop the plans entirely. Reacting to the news, Miliband said: “The public were rightly appalled in the first place that the government was proposing that people who committed rape should see their sentences cut by 50% and be let out within as little as 15 months. “The prime minister has got to ask how he got himself into this position in the first place of making a proposal which wasn’t thought through. It’s yet another example of this government not being in touch with people and making proposals which they then have to abandon.” The father of murdered schoolboy Damilola Taylor welcomed the U-turn and called on Clarke to be “removed” as justice secretary. “Ken Clarke is not doing the right thing, his advisers are not giving him the right advice on the issue,” Richard Taylor said. “He does not know what is going on in the streets, he does not know what criminality is about. He is taking decisions about what he does not know about. David Cameron’s decision to abandon the Ken Clarke statement is right.” Victims’ group Families Fighting for Justice also called for Clarke to resign. Jean Taylor, the founder of the group, said that more than 1,000 people had signed an online petition calling for his resignation and urged Clarke to meet victims to hear their experiences first hand: “Ken Clarke lives in la la land. If he can say that a rapist deserves 50% off for an early guilty plea then what world does he live in? He does not live in the real world.” The current discount is a third, and an extension to 50% would have meant a big drop in the prison population. The decision will mean the Ministry of Justice has to find as much as £100m in extra savings over four years from elsewhere in its budget. Most will come from a further squeeze on probation. The Treasury has said it is willing to see the justice ministry change the speed at which it finds savings. No official confirmation was available from Downing Street before a meeting of the cabinet on Tuesday and Cameron’s press conference. No 10 argues that trust in the criminal justice system is so low that it would be unable to sell a cut in sentences in return for early guilty pleas. Cameron’s advisers have told him his party is losing its grip on the law and order agenda. The Liberal Democrat leadership, which had promised to side with Clarke, appeared to have accepted defeat. A Lib Dem source said the 50% discount was not a party policy: “We never said we would want to bring it in. We are not totally wedded to it, and it is not a big loss.” Clarke’s original green paper proposal was expected to produce savings of £210m a year by reducing the demand for prison places by 6,000. Ministry of Justice officials estimated that this would cut the record 85,000 prison population in England and Wales by 3,000 by the time of the next general election. Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the probation union Napo, warned that the change of plan would lead to higher costs and more people behind bars as well as “a serious hole” in his department’s finances. The prison population in England and Wales stood at 85,345 on Friday, just 150 short of last October’s record high of 85,495. Fletcher said: “Further cuts to legal aid, the courts and probation are inevitable. This is a serious dent in Ken Clarke’s hopes to reduce the prison population. Abandoning the [50%] discount means the prison population will not be drastically reduced, therefore, cuts to courts, legal aid and probation will be worse than expected. “Cuts to all three will mean more people will end up in custody because the probation service will not be able to run programmes or supervise offenders in the community.” Other proposals expected on Tuesday include removing the courts’ option of remanding in custody defendants who are unlikely to receive a prison sentence. This would save 1,300 prison places a year. Other proposals include deporting more foreign prisoners (500 places), a new release test for those serving indeterminate sentences for public protection (300 to 600 places), and diverting mentally ill prisoners into community health treatment services (650 prison places). The justice minister, Crispin Blunt, gave a broad hint last week that any need to find further savings in the Ministry of Justice budget as a result of changes to the sentencing package were likely to come from the courts and probation services. Blunt told MPs that probation had so far been “quite significantly protected” from his department’s 23% budget cuts. The plans have provoked fierce opposition, particularly from the solicitors’ organisation, the Law Society. One initial recommendation was to withdraw legal aid in family cases, except those involving allegations of domestic violence. Critics warned that this would provide a perverse incentive to exaggerate grievances. Des Hudson, the Law Society chief executive, said he feared that cuts to legal aid could be even deeper than the proposed £350m because less money may be saved by keeping people out of prison. He said: “This means they will come to the budget with sharpened pencils. We will not stand by and see the most vulnerable left with no access to justice.” Kenneth Clarke Sentencing UK criminal justice Prisons and probation Patrick Wintour Alan Travis Allegra Stratton Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Penguin took wrong turn from Antarctic and ended up in New Zealand – the first time in 44 years one has been sighted there A young emperor penguin took a wrong turn from the Antarctic and ended up stranded on a New Zealand beach – the first time in 44 years the aquatic bird has been sighted in the south Pacific country. Local resident Christine Wilton was taking her miniature Schnauzer dog Millie for a walk on Peka Peka beach on the North Island’s western coast when she discovered the bird. “It was out of this world to see it … like someone just dropped it from the sky,” Wilton said. Conservation experts say the penguin is about 10 months old and stands about 80cm (32 inches) high. Emperor penguins are the tallest and largest species of penguin and can grow up to122cm high and weigh more than 34kg. Colin Miskelly, a curator at Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand, said the bird was likely to have been born during the last Antarctic winter. It may have been searching for squid and krill when it took a wrong turn. He said emperor penguins can spend months at a time in the ocean, coming ashore only to molt or rest, but did not know what might have caused this particular one to become disoriented. Miskelly said the penguin appeared healthy and well fed, with plenty of body fat, and probably came ashore for a rest. However, Miskelly said the penguin would need to find its way back south soon if it were to survive. Despite the onset of the New Zealand winter, the bird was probably hot and thirsty, he said, and it had been eating wet sand. “It doesn’t realise that the sand isn’t going to melt inside it,” Miskelly said. “They typically eat snow, because it’s their only liquid.” Emperor penguins’ amazing journey to breeding grounds deep in the Antarctic and their ability to survive the brutal winter there were captured in the 2005 documentary March of the Penguins. Peter Simpson, a programme manager for New Zealand’s Ddepartment of conservation, said officials are asking people to stand back about 10m from the creature and to avoid letting dogs near it. Other than that, he said, officials plan to let nature take its course. Simpson said the bird could live several weeks before needing another meal. The last confirmed sighting of a wild emperor in New Zealand was in 1967 at the southern Oreti Beach, he said. New Zealand Animals Animal behaviour Animal welfare Antarctica Birds Wildlife guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Penguin took wrong turn from Antarctic and ended up in New Zealand – the first time in 44 years one has been sighted there A young emperor penguin took a wrong turn from the Antarctic and ended up stranded on a New Zealand beach – the first time in 44 years the aquatic bird has been sighted in the south Pacific country. Local resident Christine Wilton was taking her miniature Schnauzer dog Millie for a walk on Peka Peka beach on the North Island’s western coast when she discovered the bird. “It was out of this world to see it … like someone just dropped it from the sky,” Wilton said. Conservation experts say the penguin is about 10 months old and stands about 80cm (32 inches) high. Emperor penguins are the tallest and largest species of penguin and can grow up to122cm high and weigh more than 34kg. Colin Miskelly, a curator at Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand, said the bird was likely to have been born during the last Antarctic winter. It may have been searching for squid and krill when it took a wrong turn. He said emperor penguins can spend months at a time in the ocean, coming ashore only to molt or rest, but did not know what might have caused this particular one to become disoriented. Miskelly said the penguin appeared healthy and well fed, with plenty of body fat, and probably came ashore for a rest. However, Miskelly said the penguin would need to find its way back south soon if it were to survive. Despite the onset of the New Zealand winter, the bird was probably hot and thirsty, he said, and it had been eating wet sand. “It doesn’t realise that the sand isn’t going to melt inside it,” Miskelly said. “They typically eat snow, because it’s their only liquid.” Emperor penguins’ amazing journey to breeding grounds deep in the Antarctic and their ability to survive the brutal winter there were captured in the 2005 documentary March of the Penguins. Peter Simpson, a programme manager for New Zealand’s Ddepartment of conservation, said officials are asking people to stand back about 10m from the creature and to avoid letting dogs near it. Other than that, he said, officials plan to let nature take its course. Simpson said the bird could live several weeks before needing another meal. The last confirmed sighting of a wild emperor in New Zealand was in 1967 at the southern Oreti Beach, he said. New Zealand Animals Animal behaviour Animal welfare Antarctica Birds Wildlife guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Explosive device thrown at officers after violence erupts in nationalist Short Strand area An explosive device was been thrown at a police vehicle in west Belfast, after violence flared elsewhere in the city on Monday night. Nobody was hurt in the incident in the early hours of Tuesday morning, near the Kennedy centre in Andersonstown. Police were responding to reports of a stolen vehicle when they came under attack. The area was closed off and bomb disposal experts went to the scene. Earlier, there were clashes in east Belfast, with petrol bombs thrown and homes damaged. Sinn Féin blamed scores of masked men, who a party representative said were wearing camouflage clothing and surgical gloves, for launching co-ordinated attacks on the nationalist Short Strand area. Ulster Unionist Michael Copeland said he believed the violence followed attacks on Protestant-owned homes. The Belfast mayor, Niall Ó Donnghaile, a councillor based in the Short Strand area, said a number of Catholic residents had been injured, including one man knocked unconscious when he was hit with a brick. Police were also attacked during the disturbances and advised motorists to avoid the area. Ó Donnghaile said: “There is no doubt that this was unprovoked and was a carefully orchestrated and planned attack on the area. Homes have been attacked with petrol bombs and paint bombs, bricks, golf balls. I saw what happened.” But Copeland said homes on the mainly Unionist Newtownards Road had been targeted. “I would say it was several hundred involved in very serious, almost hand-to-hand fighting,” he said. Northern Ireland Sinn Féin guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Explosive device thrown at officers after violence erupts in nationalist Short Strand area An explosive device was been thrown at a police vehicle in west Belfast, after violence flared elsewhere in the city on Monday night. Nobody was hurt in the incident in the early hours of Tuesday morning, near the Kennedy centre in Andersonstown. Police were responding to reports of a stolen vehicle when they came under attack. The area was closed off and bomb disposal experts went to the scene. Earlier, there were clashes in east Belfast, with petrol bombs thrown and homes damaged. Sinn Féin blamed scores of masked men, who a party representative said were wearing camouflage clothing and surgical gloves, for launching co-ordinated attacks on the nationalist Short Strand area. Ulster Unionist Michael Copeland said he believed the violence followed attacks on Protestant-owned homes. The Belfast mayor, Niall Ó Donnghaile, a councillor based in the Short Strand area, said a number of Catholic residents had been injured, including one man knocked unconscious when he was hit with a brick. Police were also attacked during the disturbances and advised motorists to avoid the area. Ó Donnghaile said: “There is no doubt that this was unprovoked and was a carefully orchestrated and planned attack on the area. Homes have been attacked with petrol bombs and paint bombs, bricks, golf balls. I saw what happened.” But Copeland said homes on the mainly Unionist Newtownards Road had been targeted. “I would say it was several hundred involved in very serious, almost hand-to-hand fighting,” he said. Northern Ireland Sinn Féin guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
At least 22 people killed and more than 30 wounded in attack outside Diwaniya governor’s house At least 21 people were killed when bombs exploded at a checkpoint outside a provincial governor’s house in central Iraq, the latest attack targeting a government building, local authorities said. One suicide bomber blew himself up and at least one car bomb exploded on Tuesday outside the Diwaniya governor’s house, 95 miles (150km) south of Baghdad, as guards changed shifts at the checkpoint. Most of the victims were bodyguards, officials said. “The initial death toll is 21 killed at a guard’s checkpoint,” Fadhel Mawat, a spokesman for the provincial council, said. Kareem Isghair, the head of the security committee of Diwaniya provincial council, said explosions targeted security personal as they were checking in for morning duty. A source at a hospital in Diwaniya said at least 22 people had been killed and more than 30 wounded in the attack. Bombings and killings in Iraq have fallen sharply since the height of sectarian violence in 2006-2007, but a hardcore Sunni Islamist insurgency linked to al-Qaida and rival Shia militias still carry out daily attacks. Violence has increasingly targeted local security forces and provincial government officials as US troops prepare to withdraw from the country by a planned year-end deadline more than eight years after the invasion to oust Saddam Hussein. Diwaniya is a mainly Shia region and several of Iraq’s armed groups are active in the area. Gunmen and suicide bombers a week ago stormed a provincial council building in Baquba in central province of Diyala, killing at least eight people before Iraqi forces retook the building with the help of US troops. Iraq Middle East guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Air force’s head of combat operations warns of ‘huge’ demand on resources already feeling strain from swingeing cuts The RAF’s ability to respond to future emergencies will be under threat if the mission in Libya continues beyond the summer, the head of the air force’s combat operations has warned. In a briefing paper for politicians, Air Chief Marshal Sir Simon Bryant said operations in Afghanistan and Libya were together placing a “huge” demand on resources and left morale “fragile”, with many areas “running hot” as the coalition’s defence cuts appear to undermine the efforts of air crews. The paper, obtained by the Daily Telegraph , was given to MPs last month before the head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, questioned the sustainability of current operations. The first sea lord, who suggested the government would have to make “challenging decisions” on force levels if the Libya mission lasted more than six months, was subsequently given a dressing down by David Cameron . Bryant also raised concern about the length of the Libya operation, which has dragged on longer than many observers expected as Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has clung to power. “Two concurrent operations are placing a huge demand on equipment and personnel,” he said. “Should Operation Ellamy (Libya) endure past defence planning assumptions the future contingent capability is likely to be eroded.” He also warned that morale in the RAF was being hit by cuts, thousands of job losses and a pay freeze. “Morale remains fragile. Although fighting spirit remains positive, this assessment will be challenged by individual harmony targets as Operation Ellamy endures [after September],” he wrote. “There is decreasing satisfaction with the remunerative offer and allowances cut and the pay freeze continues to bite.” Referring to last year’s strategic defence and security review, he added: “The impact of SDSR continues to undermine the sense of being valued. There is concern over the perceived lack of strategic direction which is restricting confidence in the senior leadership.” Liberal Democrat armed forces minister Nick Harvey insisted the RAF had “the resources necessary to carry out operations. The prospect of redundancies would of course affect any organisation, but I continue to be impressed by the professionalism and commitment shown by our people and I know they will rise to any challenge,” he said. “Tough but necessary measures had to be taken in the SDSR in consultation with our military advisers, but as our efforts in Libya and Afghanistan are showing, we continue to have the resources necessary to carry out operations.” Military Libya Middle East Africa Defence policy guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Activists condemn remarks as ‘scapegoating’ as 10,000 people remain unable to return to homes due to persistent fires The former Republican presidential candidate John McCain has been accused of “scapegoating” Mexicans over comments he made linking major wildfires in his home state of Arizona to illegal immigration. The issue ignited over the weekend when the US senator said there was “substantial evidence that some of these fires have been caused by people who have crossed our border illegally. The answer to that part of the problem is to get a secure border”. Two other Arizona Republicans backed McCain, but immigration activists swiftly condemned his statement as typical of a “blame it on the Mexicans” mentality. Democratic politicians also waded in to rebuke McCain’s politicisation of the issue. “It’s his constant refrain for everything that ails mankind,” said Roberto Reveles, founder of Somos America, an Arizona-based immigrant rights group. “It just seems like we have an epidemic of ‘blame it all on the illegal aliens; blame it all on the Mexicans’. It’s amazing that the public doesn’t rebel against this type of scapegoating.” Republican senator Jon Kyl and house representative Paul Gosar defended McCain, claiming they had been told some fires in the southern part of the state are started by illegal immigrants. They did not specify to which fires they were referring, but framed the resulting debate as a distraction. “While Arizonans continue to face the enormous challenges related to these wildfires, it’s unfortunate that some are inserting their political agenda into this tragedy,” their statement said. This assertion raised the hackles of Arizona Democrat and house representative Raul Grijalva. “They served this, they pandered it,” he said. “And now [they] say that anybody who criticises that inappropriate, unsubstantiated claim somehow has a political agenda. This is a tragedy of huge proportions for Arizona. Those of us who criticise it are only reacting to what they started.” The debate raged as state authorities continued to assess the damage from a wildfire that burned in a heavily populated area near the Mexican border. About 10,000 people remain unable to return to their homes on the outskirts of Sierra Vista, about 15 miles (24km) north of the border, where on Sunday the so-called Monument fire swept off a mountain and destroyed 14 homes and four businesses. It has now destroyed 58 homes and burned through more than 40 sq miles (103 sq km) since it started a week ago. Along the border with New Mexico, the biggest blaze in Arizona has charred an area five times that size, but hasn’t done as much damage. Despite burning more than 800 sq miles since late May, the Wallow fire has destroyed just 32 homes and four rental cabins. A third major wildfire, the Horsehoe Two in the south-east of the state, is now 80% contained after charring more than 330 sq miles and destroying 23 structures. Officials say all three blazes are the result of human activity, but no no-one has yet been charged and no further details have been issued. US immigration Arizona United States Wildfires John McCain Mark Smith guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Lawrence O’Donnell Bashes Chris Wallace’s Ratings Despite Having Far Less Viewers
June 20, 2011 No Comment
Monday appeared to be the day that MSNBC commentators bashed the ratings of Sunday political talk shows other than NBC's “Meet the Press.” After Chris Matthews ridiculed ABC's “This Week” despite it having more than three times his audience, Lawrence O'Donnell went after Chris Wallace and “Fox News Sunday” (video follows with transcript and commentary): LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Well, I think, you know, Jon Stewart’s point about Fox News has Chris Wallace on there just so they can say they have him, just so they can say they have a reasonably fair Sunday morning show. It comes in dead last in the ratings. David Gregory just kills it, you know, by a million miles. So it isn't there as a real business. It's just there as a fig leaf for the Fox News people to claim there's a news show Sunday morning. “David Gregory just kills it, you know, by a million miles.” Really? According to TVNewser, “[W]hen the two cable replays on Fox News are taken into consideration, “FNS” draws more viewers than “Face the Nation” or “This Week.” What shills like O'Donnell choose to ignore is that “Fox News Sunday” airs on two different channels: Fox News on cable and regular broadcast Fox. When organizations like Nielsen rank these Sunday shows, they only factor in the broadcast ratings. Add in those watching “FNS” on FNC and it normally comes in first. As “Meet the Press” typically averages about 3.5 million viewers every Sunday, that means “FNS's” combined numbers are greater than this. If O'Donnell thinks this isn't a “real business” model for Fox, what does he think of the roughly 1.5 million viewers he gets each day – 57 percent less than Wallace! – during the combined airings of “The Last Word?” Oh. That's right. MSNBC isn't in this racket to make money. This is liberal advocacy plain and simple no matter the cost – as long as the new owners at Comcast are willing to go along with it, that is.
Continue reading …