Today's edition of quick hits:
* U.S. Navy SEAL Nicolas D. Checque was killed yesterday in a rescue mission of an American doctor who was kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Checque, 28, was a decorated combat veteran and a member of SEAL Team Six. The doctor, Dilip Joseph, was returned to safety.
* Egypt: "A day after President Mohamed Morsi formally directed the military to help keep public order and authorized soldiers to arrest civilians, a spokesman on Monday sought to draw distinctions between the order and the forms of martial law that the Egyptian Army had previously imposed."
* Najia Seddiqi gunned down: "A senior advocate for women in Afghanistan was shot dead by unknown gunmen Monday, officials said, the latest assassination of a women's rights activist in the country."
* A new Politico/George Washington University Battleground Poll shows 60% support raising taxes on income over $250,000 a year. The poll also found that "only 38% believe the Republicans' argument that raising taxes on households earning more than $250,000 would hurt the economy, whereas 58% don't buy it."
* Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will join the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which as one of my colleagues noted, will probably mean even more Sunday show appearances.
* Despite the total absence of voter fraud in Alaska, Republican lawmakers in the state are poised to consider a new voter-ID law in 2013.
* With the non-existent "war on Christmas" apparently not going well this year, Fox News is back to talking about the "Ground Zero Mosque," which isn't a mosque, isn't at Ground Zero, and was a rather pathetic story when it grew stale over two years ago.
* And Joe Strupp has an interesting report on what happened to the San Diego Union-Tribune, a once-respected daily, after it was bought a year ago by far-right financier Douglas Manchester. "People are so embarrassed by the [newspaper] that they are dropping their subscriptions," said Don Bauder, who spent 30 years at the paper from 1973 to 2003, which included stints as financial editor and columnist. "Around town it is an embarrassment."
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Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will join the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which as one of my colleagues noted, will probably mean even more Sunday show appearances.
Well, you know, it makes it easier for the bookers. He's no more senile than Bob Shieffer, no more a drooling moron than David Gregory, and no more brain-dead than Stephanawfulous. So they don't have to worry about being upstaged.
And Joe Strupp has an interesting report on what happened to the San Diego Union-Tribune, a once-respected daily, after it was bought a year ago by far-right financier Douglas Manchester. "People are so embarrassed by the [newspaper] that they are dropping their subscriptions," said Don Bauder, who spent 30 years at the paper from 1973 to 2003, which included stints as financial editor and columnist. "Around town it is an embarrassment."
Pretty much what the situation will be when Murdoch buys the L.A. Times and Chicago Tribune. Back in the day, it used to be the only difference between the San Diego Union and the Volkischer Beobachter was one was written in German.
Is Murdoch going to acquire the LAT and The Trib? I know it's been in the works, but I hadn't heard it's a done deal...
Before the calculated efforts of Murdoch and the few .1% to buy up all the media in the United States, we had vibrant and free media and free speech. We don't now, not when these few corporations own 80% of ALL media --- tv, print, radio, even book publishers, and not when they have infiltrated many of the media that they do not own. Murdoch alone owns a large share of that, but so does Bain Capital that owns Clear Channel media outlets, and so does Gannett with its ownship of major newspapers and other media. Look at what Comcast owns and controls. Just a few corporations dominate media markets,
If you own the media, you control the content --- and that is where free speech is threatened in market after market. If you are Fox News, you can blanket a market with censored, distorted, and outright untruthful content.
If we, as a people, want to have free speech as we had it in the past, the media monopolies must be broken up. I consider it the most pressing issue in this country.
Anyone who is a progressive should be in the forefront of the campaign to bring free speech back by freeing the media from the .1% monopolies.
When I lived in San Diego, I never once heard anyone describe the Union Tribune as "respectable." It was barely useful for lining a bird cage.
Welcome back Steve! I hope you had a good time on your vacation.
Condolences to the Checque loved ones.
Sad for those who lost so much and still dealing with it all.
This is awful. Assasinating women's advocates. doctors abducted. Terrible!
How long until Fox breaks the story about the White House lies and cover up over Cheque's death?
Snark.
Nicolas D. Checque---
We all owe him and his family. Maximum hero. Just can't think of anything more to say.
Via con Dios.
May God bless him and his family. I don't want to blog anymore tonight. That is just way too sad.
Poor kid.. And maybe it's just me but wasn't the Union-Tribune always a right-wing rag? Seemed so during the 80's/early 90's. San Diego is wonderful from the shore to about 1 mile inland!
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If I may be so bold as to suggest that we make contributions to our own favorite charities in Checque's name....
McCain is McCain, he is the same little Napoleon he's always been, the only difference is that now he's got his hand shoved into his pants where he spends all of his time pointing what is left of his potency wishing, he could piss on anything but himself.
Bullying = Power There are leaders in this world that are abusing their leadership. democracy = fairness for the people and protecting your people.