NYPD Gives Fox News Special Protection

None of the other NYC based news outlets are afforded this type of protection.  Fox News’ revenue allows them all the affordability needed for security.  Why do taxpayers have to pay for their security?

The Daily Beast

Fox News’s Midtown Manhattan studios get 24/7 protection from the NYPD, stiff security the other news networks say they’ve never enjoyed.

When Occupy Wall Street protesters marched past media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s posh 5^th Avenue penthouse during the “Millionaires March” on October 11, they were accompanied by a “very light police presence” according to a reporter at the scene. But down at Rupert’s News Corp. headquarters on Sixth Ave.–which has never been a terrorist or protest target of any significance–the media empire is guarded by a 24-hour-a-day New York Police Department security detail seven days a week, a patrol that one security expert estimated costs the city at least half a million dollars a year.

No other news network gets comparable NYPD protection, although a police department spokesman suggested in an email to the Daily Beast that they did. As best we could decipher a rationale for this extraordinary sentry at the gates of the Fox empire, it appears to be fueled by the security obsession of Fox News chief Roger Ailes.

The Daily Beast has observed at least two, and up to three officers patrolling the News Corp. plaza with one or two police cars stationed in front of the 45-story building on a regular basis. A security guard inside the lobby of the News Corp. building said that the police presence out front “has nothing to do with Fox News,” and is there simply because it’s a “high-profile” area. Yet cops who spoke with The Daily Beast said that they are posted at the site to protect Fox News as part of a counterterrorism initiative. Most officers explained that Fox News is a sensitive location, and one even referred to it as a “political” network. Some ex-Fox News employees attribute the patrol to the “paranoia” of Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes.

Continue reading here…

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Romney Whined That Fox News Interview Was ‘Overly Aggressive’

Mitt Romney is beginning to show his thin skin.  Bret Baier was much nicer to Romney than he was to President Obama when Baier interviewed the POTUS in May 2010.

Think Progress

[Last night] on the O’Reilly Factor, Fox News anchor Bret Baier revealed that Mitt Romney complained to him repeatedly about his interview yesterday afternoon. After the interview concluded, Romney told Baier he was “overly aggressive.” According to Baier, Romney then returned to his green room, but sought Baier out again to complain some more and to say his questions were “uncalled for.” Watch it:

Here is  a three minute clip of the interview in question…

 

Ron Paul’s New, Tough Ad Hits Newt Gingrich Hard On ‘Serial Hypocrisy’

This is shaping up to be a very interesting election season.  According to all the experts, we ain’t seen nothin’ yet! Just wait till the general election…

NPR

Ron Paul’s presidential campaign strikes what looks to be the hardest blow yet on the surging Newt Gingrich in a new video called “Serial Hypocrisy.”

The ad uses several instances where Gingrich either aligned himself with liberals (like his famous ad with Rep. Nancy Pelosi on climate change or attack on fellow Republican, Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget plan as “right-wing social engineering.”)

It also bashes Gingrich for engaging in the kind of Washington insider behavior he has criticized in others, like his being paid at least $1.5 million by Freddie Mac, one of the troubled mortgage giants.

The ad ends with this self-damning quote from Gingrich:

“It’s wrong to go around and adopt radically different positions. Than people have to ask themselves ‘What will you tell me next time?’ “

An excerpt from a news release accompanying the ad that’s going out to its huge email list the Paul campaign said:

“Our campaign is making a bold move to debunk the myth that the Newt we are seeing on the 2012 campaign trail is the conservative he has been touted to be all along. This step we are taking is necessary, as voters are seeking authenticity among conservatives who are able to show a decades-long career of consistently walking the walk of Constitutional principles, limited government, and promoting sound money and economic policy. Ron Paul is the only Republican presidential candidate with that record,” said Ron Paul 2012 National Campaign Chairman Jesse Benton.

It’s the kind of ad that would be very hard for Mitt Romney to pull off. That’s an attack that would inevitably be turned back on Romney, reminding many voters of their problem with him as a candidate.

But Paul has, if nothing else, been consistent, even when it has placed him at odds with the vast majority of conservatives, like his opposition to having U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. As the messenger for this message, he’s virtually untouchable.

Get Your Act Together

The Raw Story

Sen. Bernie Sanders on the Senate floor Wednesday urged lawmakers to make the Pentagon fight against defense contractor fraud as they debated the National Defense Authorization Act.

“This country has a record breaking deficit and a $15 trillion national debt,” he said. “What many people do not know is that one of the reasons our deficit is as high as it is, is because there is a significant amount of fraud from defense contractors who sell their products to the Department of Defense.”

The Pentagon paid more than $1.1 trillion during the past decade to 37 contractors that had defrauded the Department of Defense, according to a report released in October. Another $255 million went to 54 defense contractors convicted of hard-core criminal fraud in the same period.

“I think the American people are very clear that when we pay a dollar for a product that goes to our military, we want to get a dollar’s worth of value,” Sanders continued. “That we do not want to see the taxpayers of this country or the Department of Defense ripped off by fraudulent contractors.”

Sanders has proposed an amendment to the annual defense bill that would require the Pentagon to step up its efforts to fight fraud and submit annual reports.

“What this amendment does is tell the DOD, ‘get your act together,’” he said.

Watch video, uploaded to YouTube on November 30, below: