Centrist writer and former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani aide John Avlon got a lot of people mad in recent months. One was conservative talk show host and GOP political Godfather Rush Limbaugh, who increasingly seems to be the Republican Party’s chief tactician, strategist and decider of who is or is not a “real” Republican. The other was MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, a hero to many on the...

Despite the humanitarian aid that Israel allows into Gaza, the blockade is causing a crisis that is “only going to get even worse,” according to a new report by the International Committee of the Red Cross:

Mike Keefe, The Denver Post This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

An Administration Adrift by Michael Reagan As we pass the 50-day mark of the terrible oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, it seems like the more things change the more they stay the same. As I have previously discussed, sometimes terrible tragedies occur for which even the most diligent administrations cannot prepare. While it can and should be properly debated whether this tragedy is one of those events,...

I have no doubt that many readers will reject the substance of this statement out of hand. Before you do that, however, I urge you to read Ken O’Keefe’s entire statement. I did. I certainly don’t take everything he says as Mt. Sinai truth. (One example: he makes an oblique reference to the Armenian genocide as a “past injustice” and of course without using that terminology, and...

Some say yes and point to the latest eye-brow raising example. On the other hand, Hitler has had problems on You Tube, too…

Snippets of this story have been all over TV and the Net. According to this article from Russia’s Komsomolskaya Pravda, the Soviets used the technique of nuking out of control well heads five times – although never on the ocean bottom. According to columnist Vladimir Lagovskiy, however, it should work just as well a mile below the Gulf. For Komsomolskaya Pravda, Vladimir Lagovskiy writes in part: It’s...

As Worldmeets.US has been documenting over the past month, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has come under fire both from within and without his country for opposing tougher U.N. sanctions against Iran, which are championed by not only the United States and Europe, but Russia and China as well. In this broadside against Lula, columnist Sergio Malbergier of Brazil’s Folha newspaper...

Rachel Maddow aired this clip on her show last night. I just found it at Talking Points Memo:

HA HA!

I wonder if Michael Cannon at Cato Institute will lose any speaking engagements or be asked to resign from his job for saying this:

TMV’s Dorian DeWind flagged Tony Judt’s op-ed in today’s New York Times as a must-read. I agree with Dorian; I just read it (independently of Dorian’s recommendation; I just happened to see it at Memeorandum), and it’s a tonic for the polarized discussion that is the usual fare on this subject.

I have always detested being accused of being a member of what I think is described as “herd” or “pack” journalist. I detest labels assessed by journalists on groups such as the Tea Party because even though they share a few common bonds, they are as different in South Carolina as they are in California. I detest Sean Hannity’s ilk that all Democrats are liberal and even a few...

EM Forster and Facebook by Tina Dupuy “Big Brother” is watching you in a very “Orwellian” way. Has been for years. People who have never heard of George Orwell know of the term “Big Brother.” In many ways his dark vision of what the year 1984 would look like is prophetic. For example, his novel 1984 takes place during a never-ending war while technology is aiding an over-reaching government. I read...

Morning drive DJs, some cable news host mavens, and early morning talk show hosts of the right and left are all talking about the gem of a video you can watch below: California Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina, getting caught with an open mike getting ready for a TV appearance — dissing her Democratic rival Barbara Boxer’s hair. That has political junkies and new and old media types achatter...

After Helen Thomas quickly submitted her resignation rather than fight against the fallout from her taped remarks that appeared to many to be anti-Semitic, it would have been reasonable to expect the story would quickly disappear. After all, nasty remarks were hardly surprising from a woman who has made a career out of nasty remarks, and it she was well past her expiration date anyway. Helen Thomas had, in...

Another source—this time a Colombian newspaper—alleges today that the “Dutch psychopath might have murdered two women in Bogotá.” Yesterday, we reported on a similar story by the Peruvian newspaper, El Comercio. Today, The Colombian newspaper El Espacio reports (translated): Colombian police, via the Judicial Investigations Division, is investigating the disappearance of two beautiful women in the...

There’s a fascinating article in the New York Times today about the growing influence of regional powers in the Middle East — in particular, Turkey — and their growing unwillingness to ask “How high?” when the United States says “Jump!” The hook for the Times piece, which is written by Sabrina Tavernise and Michael Blackman, is the May 31 assault on a flotilla of ships...

If activists want to practice journalism, shouldn’t we hold their work to a rigorous journalistic standard? “Hey Congressman Moran? Jason Mattera, from Virgina, actually, big fan. The 12th district of Virginia.” With that Mattera, a conservative activist heavily promoted under the umbrella of Andrew Breitbart’s media empire, was already creating his own version of reality. Emerging from...

An interesting narrative has been emerging from the Arab world since the tragic Israeli boarding of a flotilla of vessels seeking to break the blockade of Gaza: By taking the lead in challenging Israel, Turkey has embarrassed Arab rulers by exposing them as impotent lackeys of the United States. After yesterday’s article from the Palestinians headlined, Blockade of Gaza Shows Arabs are a ‘Dead...

I’ve watched the msm and blogosphere erupt over something one of my favorite US citizen crones, Helen Thomas, said, (Barbara Bush being one of my other most favorite plain-speaking, humor filled but serious champs). Over the decades, I’ve also heard other media workers express extremely biased condemnations, unsupportable opinions and polarizing and ugly ideas, including what tortures and deaths...

I have been browsing the Peruvian press for breaking news about Joran van der Sloot and, as I have posted here and here, found some interesting bits and pieces. Then, realizing the nationality of van der Sloot, I decided to check the Dutch press and I believe that I hit the mother lode with “Radio Nederland Wereld Omroep (Radio Netherlands Worldwide), or RNW. Radio Netherlands Worldwide, located in Hilversum,...

I have no words.  I should have seen this coming.

Under the headline, “Two women disappeared in Colombia during van der Sloot’s stay in that country,” the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio reports that, before arriving in Lima on May 14, Joran van der Sloot had been in Colombia since May 6. The paper asks, “What did he do in [Colombia]?” and answers, “The same as here. Visiting casinos,” It continues, “Nevertheless, his stay coincided with the...

Here’s Jon Stewart on the controversy surrounding Helen Thomas’ comments and her resignation. He also offers a bit of a critique for aspiring racists in a bit on South Carolina: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c