Michael Bloomberg has had a busy summer.

The NYC Mayor has been waging a pitched battle against the 71% of New Yorkers who want the Cordoba House mosque moved from its present site.  That event has gotten plenty of media coverage.

But that fight may be nothing more than a part of a second, larger contest between Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg LP — a private company of which Mayor Bloomberg controls 85% — over control of financial news reporting  in the world of Islamic finance.

The stakes in the Bloomberg-Reuters Middle East Islamic Finance war: The nearly 300 Islamic banks and financial institutions worldwide whose assets are predicted to grow to $1 trillion by 2013.

“We have an aspiration at Bloomberg to become the most influential news organisation in the world.”

Peter T. Grauer, Chairman and CEO of Bloomberg, July 31, 2010

“…. the growth of Islamic finance has been phenomenal in spite of the current difficulties that seem to be indicative of the situation visa vi the international economic community, the financial world seems to be turning its attention to Islamic finance.”

Former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Musa Hitam, Chairman of the World Islamic Economic Forum Foundation, CNBC interview, August 18, 2010

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Call us cynical but we wonder whether Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s passionate backing of the building of a controversial mosque near Ground Zero stems as much from Bloomberg’s belief in America’s “freedom of faith” as it might from the Mayor’s belief in the “virtues of Islamic finance?”

Does the Mayor’s unshakable support have anything to do with The Bloomberg (company) becoming a ‘single provider of information that caters to the Islamic business market’?  A Bloomberg five-year business plan for an Islamic finance portal via a Bloomberg hub at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is already a reality.

Michael Bloomberg, has become a staunch supporter of the Cordoba House (Park51) Ground Zero Mosque.  In the process, the Mayor has lectured opponents on “religious liberty” and, by extension, implied that opposition to the mosque is largely based on bigotry.

Lately, Bloomberg has become so insistent on the mosque’s being built at its planned location that The New York Post has labeled him Pro-Mosque Mike.”

A defiant Mayor Bloomberg, saying there should be no compromise, insisted last night that a mosque be built near Ground Zero, declaring, “We must do what is right, not what is easy.

While Bloomberg hasn’t been shy about questioning the motives of those opposed to the mosque’s location, the media has shied away from the Mayor‘s motivations.  But what of the Mayor’s motives? What might they be? Does a strong passion for religious liberty explain all?

Some of Bloomberg LP’s officials may hold some clues. (more…)

Read Part One here.

Another reason for the spotty media coverage of the war along our southern border is manpower.  Local media simply doesn’t have the resources to investigate and  cover all of the stories in their area — even when they are aware of them.

The reliably liberal Mainstream Media has more resources, but is hamstrung by ideology.  Amnesty proponents have spokesmen ready to downplay any news story that hurts their cause and the national media makes ample use of those spokesmen.  The battles along the border don’t fit the MSM narrative.

Money and fear are the cartels’ big weapons–and they use them both.  Journalists are a favorite target of the Mexican cartels.  According to Reuters, they’ve already succeeded in silencing journalists along much of the Mexican side.

Hitmen from the Gulf cartel based over the border from Texas are paying reporters around $500 a month and showering them with liquor and prostitutes to intimidate and silence colleagues at radio stations and newspapers in towns near the Laredo-Brownsville area, journalists and editors say.

“Our newsrooms have been infiltrated by these reporters, they monitor what we write, they know where we live. With this system, the narcos have direct control over us,” said a local newspaper editor who declined to be named for safety.

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Has the fog of war descended on the U.S. southern border, obscuring the reporting of news and concealing the truth about what is going on along the Rio Grande and in Arizona and California?  Many violent incidents are not widely covered, if at all, by the media; some coverage, when it does occur, comes weeks to months afterward.

According to recent information on the FBI’s website, “brutal abductions and murders“ are not isolated incidents on the U.S. side. (Emphasis is from the original).

Emerging from the port of entry’s administrative offices into a sunny San Diego morning, Special Agent Dean Giboney spoke in fluent Spanish with the man whose temporary U.S. visa he had just helped renew.

The kidnappings, beatings, and murders that mark the extreme drug-related violence of Mexican border cities such as Tijuana and Juarez have increasingly spilled over the border. Agent Giboney is hoping the man—we’ll call him José —can provide information that will help in the Bureau’s efforts to dismantle the cartels and the criminal enterprises they fuel.

The following are some of the better-publicized stories being reported from the southern border.  How many of them are already familiar to readers? (more…)

This is a cautionary tale about reporters eagerly attacking other reporters working a developing story.  Because it’s not possible to provide evidence as quickly as some might demand it doesn’t mean the story is false.

On July 24, Kimberly Dvorak, of the Examiner, and Don Amato, of the blog Digger’s Realm, broke the story about two Texas ranches outside of Laredo, Texas, being seized by members of Los Zetas drug cartel. Today, Ms. Dvorak posted a copy of the police blotter which provides a good deal of the information necessary to confirm her initial story’s claims:

After 16 days of denials by Laredo law enforcement and local officials regarding a Mexican drug cartel takeover of a Laredo area ranch, a Texas police blotter proves the alleged incident did in fact happen and that multiple agencies responded to the scene of a seized U.S. ranch…

“On Friday 7-23-10 Laredo Webb informed that their county SWAT Team is conducting an operation in the Mines Rd. area. According to LT. Garcia with LSO (Laredo Sheriff Office) received a call from a ranch owner stating that the Zetas had taken over his ranch. As per the 17 (reporting person) he informed them that they stated La Compania (area business) was taking the ranch and no one was permitted on the ranch without permission. SO (Sheriff Office) will have an unmarked green Ford Taurus with two officers stationed at Los Compadres and a white Chevy Tahoe with two officers stationed at Mineral Rd. The LSO (Laredo Sheriff Office) will maintain surveillance in the area and advise if action is taken. Susp (suspect) Veh (vehicle) are described as a gray or silver Audi, a BLK (black) Escalade or Navigator and a van truck with a logo of a car wash spot free on the side. Border Patrol also has their response team on scene. Also known info of BMW’s and Corvettes entering and leaving the area. Auth LT Lichtenberger if assistance is requested LPD (Laredo Police Department) will secure the outer perimeter. (07/24/10 07:42:10 NR1873)”

Dvorak’s latest post confirmed several details that I had been able to ascertain through other sources.  One important detail was different: only one ranch was investigated and under surveillance, not the two originally reported.

The original story quoted multiple anonymous sources in law enforcement and was quickly picked up by Michelle Malkin,  Jawa Report, Big Peace and DBKP among others.  Almost as quickly, the story was branded an Internet  rumor,” “conspiracy theory,” a “hoax” or  outright lies by the usual suspects from the Progressive Left/amnesty crowd. (more…)

Texas Ranches Seized by Los Zetas Drug Cartel. Over the weekend this story caught fire in the blogosphere.  One big reason the story went viral was that it fit the highly-believable narrative of violence spilling across a porous southern U.S. border.

As it stands, the story has neither been disproved or confirmed–although there’s disagreement on that point.  Here’s a few reasons readers might want  to keep an open mind.

Starting as a post on a blog dealing primarily with illegal immigration, Digger’s Realm, the story,  BREAKING: Multiple Ranches In Laredo, TX Taken Over By Los Zetas [Update 3],  began with a late Friday night tip.

Founder of the San Diego Minutemen Jeff Schwilk tipped me off to this story and passes along the following information on the location. The ranches are said to be “near Mines Rd. and Minerales Annex Rd about 10 miles NW of I-35″.

Statement from Mr. Schwilk:
I can personally vouch that this info came in late last night from a reliable police source inside the Laredo PD. There is currently a standoff between the unknown size Zeta forces and U.S. Border Patrol and local law enforcement on two ranches on our side of the Rio Grande. The source tells us he considers this an “act of war” and that the military is needed on the border now!

Digger added a “story is not 100% confirmed” to his article and posted it, but continued to work the story throughout the night. (more…)

Despite all of the attention the former vice-president’s been getting for his role in the National Enquirer’s Al Gore Sex Attack scandal, Gore–or his spokespeople–have made only a couple of statements to the press. Taken together, the two statements prompt more questions about Gore’s behavior than they answer.

A few days after the National Enquirer broke its initial Al Gore Sex Attack story, the former VP, speaking through friends, seemed to have only a slight recollection of the sleazy events that allegedly took place in his Portland luxury hotel room.

According to a source friendly with the Gores, Al Gore confirmed he received a therapeutic massage in his hotel room that night, and likely from the therapist making the accusation. But, the source said, Gore remembers getting a massage without incident and the therapist leaving on good terms.

In fact, New York magazine headlined their June 25 account of the above information with  Al Gore Recalls a Pleasant, Uneventful Massage. (more…)

*** UPDATED

The National Enquirer has struck again in the Al Gore Sex Attack Scandal.

Ahead of the print edition of the Enquirer hitting big city newsstands tomorrow morning, the Enquirer’s website has just released it’s latest Al Gore Sex Attack bombshell: the tabloid has the evidence to prove the former VP is a “pervert and sexual predator.”

AL GORE SEX SCANDAL ACCUSER reveals shocking NEW EVIDENCE  — ONLY to the NATIONAL ENQUIRER in a bombshell world exclusive interview!

“AL GORE is a pervert and sexual predator,” declares MOLLY HAGERTY, 54, the massage therapist who told Portland, Ore. police that the ex-VICE President sexually assaulted her.

“He’s not what people think he is – he’s a sick man!”

The image on the Enquirer’s latest cover says that the tabloid has “DNA testing, video evidence and key witnesses” to back up the claim from the Portland masseuse who filed a police report about he incident in 2007.

Things have been heating up for Al Gore this past week–and it has nothing to do with man-made climate change.

Tomorrow marks Week Two in the Al Gore Sex Scandal, as presented by the National Enquirer.  With the Enquirer publishing five stories this past week on the story it headlined as the “Al Gore Sex Attack,” one suspects that the tabloid isn’t quite finished yet with the “Father of the Internet.” (more…)

The Washington Post had two pieces on the (forced) resignation of its “conservative” blogger, Dave Weigel: one by ombudsman, Andrew Alexander; and, another by the staff writer, Howard Kurtz.

Both pieces make a bad situation worse: Alexander’s by unintentionally posing uncomfortable questions about how the Post goes about the business of journalism; Kurtz’s piece gets a key piece of information wrong or misquotes Weigel; Weigel responds.  Unsurprisingly, no one involved comes out looking well.

Alexander’s piece first.  In it he asks, one supposes, a rhetorical question.

But his [Weigel's] departure also raises questions about whether The Post has adequately defined the role of bloggers like Weigel. Are they neutral reporters or ideologues?

One response to Alexander’s question might be:

Well, Andrew, that depends on what the WaPo blogger is covering. If said blogger is covering the Left [Lefty Ezra Klein], then the answer is ‘ideologue.’

If the WashPo blogger is covering the Right [Lefty aka "Libertarian" Dave Weigel], then the answer–oh, never mind. I guess the answer to all questions of how the Post covers politics–and most news–can be answered by hiring another Lefty ideologue. At least with Klein, it’s out in the open for all to read, if one chooses to do so.

Long ago, the Washington Post crossed the line from mere “bias” into the realm of information and content management. That is, it’s not so much in the business of slanting news as it is deciding what news will be seen by the paper’s remaining readers. (more…)

How low have Senator Barbara “Don’t Call Me Ma’am” Boxer’s fortunes sunk to these days? Low enough that the three-term liberal Democrat doesn’t poll better than 43% against any of her three possible Republican challengers.

Low enough that her primary challenger, liberal journalist and blogger extraordinaire Robert “Mickey” Kaus, the former Newsweek writer and ”Kausfiles” architect at Slate, is to her right.

Low enough that not even the failing Los Angeles Times’ editors could bring themselves to endorse her.

But is their non-endorsement a ringing seal of approval–for Kaus?

Kaus has little name recognition, no money and no Times endorsement.  But, Boxer’s so bad–the Times’ editors generously referred to her lack of intellectual firepower”– that even a usually-reliable Democrat mouthpiece like the Times won’t endorse her.  As Glenn Reynolds puts it: “Feel the Mickey-mentum building!” (more…)

Will 2004 Democrat VP nominee and two-time presidential candidate John Edwards soon be indicted by the feds for campaign-finance violations?  The National Enquirer says Edwards will be indicted — and in the John Edwards Scandal, where the Enquirer leads the Mainstream Media follow.

What a difference a few years make.

When Edwards was one of the leading Democrat presidential candidates, the Enquirer broke story after story while the MSM refused to ask, refused to report and refused to inform its readers of the events.  This continued for months, while Edwards was considered for both an Obama running mate and attorney general slot.

Even after the Enquirer caught Edwards visiting Hunter and their daughter in a late night rendezvous at the Beverly Hilton in July 2008, there was no coverage in the traditional press for weeks.  After initially labeling the Enquirer’s report as “tabloid trash,“ Edwards finally confessed on ABC’s Nightline on August 8, 2008. (more…)

One small detail in an AP/Washington Post article of Feb. 10 has outed ABC News: the news network withheld a crucial detail in its reporting of the Andrew Young/John Edwards sex tape story.

The crucial detail?  ABC News had already seen the now-infamous Edwards-Hunter sex tape before the interview — and then acted on-camera as if it hadn’t.

That crucial detail raises questions as to why ABC News purposely mislead both its viewers and readers of its website–essentially covering up its own coverage of a cover-up.  This action was repeated in recent ABC interview of Young and corresponding news reports on Rielle Hunter’s restraining order regarding the sex tape.

On February 10th the Washington Post published an AP report on the Andrew Young contempt of court hearing in North Carolina.  Titled “Ex-Edwards aide faces pressure after tell-all book,” the report focused on Rielle Hunter’s attorney’s “frustration” over Young changing his story on where the tapes were located. (more…)

The Conservative 100, DBKP’s bi-weekly ratings of the most popular conservative websites came out today, and though the top ten places stayed the same, there were plenty of changes elsewhere.

Fox News, Wall Street Journal’s Opinion Journal, The Drudge Report, Breitbart/Big Hollywood and World Net Daily/Michael Savage remain the top five.

The ratings are based on Alexa traffic ranks, 3-month average of worldwide traffic, which is a combination of visitors and page views.

Rounding out the top ten sites: Newsmax, Hot Air, Free Republic, Washington Times and Rush Limbaugh.

Andrew Breitbart’s sites had five entries in the top 41: Breitbart/Big Hollywood, which share the same ranking, was 4th; Big Government edged ahead of Michelle Malkin to take the 15th spot; and, Big Journalism was the list’s biggest mover among large sites (up 18137 spots in Alexa traffic rank) to place 41st.  Brietbart TV also made the list at #14.

Top movers among the large sites were: Big Journalism (+18137 spots), followed closely by Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller (+17929) and Blogs Lucianne Loves (+17354).  All three sites are less than three months-old, so there’s likely  plenty of upward movement left over the next six weeks. (more…)

Readers rarely get a chance to see the re-writing of history, but they’re seeing an attempt in the recent reporting by the Legacy Media of the John Edwards Scandal.

Several recently-published books (Mark Halperin and John Heilemann’s Game Change and Edwards’ ex-aide, Andrew Young’s The Politician) examine the John Edwards scandal and Edwards’ elaborate cover-up of his affair and love child with campaign videographer, Rielle Hunter.

Halperin and Heilemann would have readers believe that they were on the trail of the story from the start–and perhaps they were.  It’s just that they didn’t bother to inform the readers of their employers, TIME and New York, while the scandal and cover-up were occurring.

Both books have prompted reports and discussions of the Edwards Scandal, particularly on ABC, which scored a series of exclusive interviews of Young, intent on publicizing his book.  The interviews along with other information is featured prominently on ABC’s website under John Edwards Scandal: (more…)

Should the National Enquirer get the Pulitzer Prize for its multi-year investigation of the John Edwards affair, scandal and cover-up? That’s a question that’s been asked lately: in some cases, at the same Mainstream Media papers which participated in the news blackout of the Enquirer’s Edwards’ coverage.

Edwards, who had been Sen. John Kerry’s running mate in 2004, was one of the front-runners at the time the Enquirer broke the second installment of the story on December 18, 2007.

The Enquirer released an abundance of easily-verifiable information at that time: Rielle Hunter, a former Edwards campaign worker, was pregnant with what the Enquirer reported was Edwards’ love child; she had been moved within five miles of the Edwards campaign headquarters in Chapel Hill, NC; Hunter was living an exclusive gated community, a few houses down the street from Edwards’ former Director of Finance, Andrew Young; and, she was driving around in a BMW registered to Young.  Add all this to the fact that information about Hunter had disappeared from the Internet and other publicly-searchable databases and the MSM was handed a great story. (more…)

What do Jake Tapper, Alan Colmes, Rich Shapiro, John Cook and Mike Potemra all have in common?  All of them reported that reliable media punching bag, Pat Robertson, blamed the devastating earthquakes in Haiti on a “pact with the Devil.”  But did Robertson really do that?

Did the former Republican presidential candidate really state on his national TV program, The 700 Club, “that the earthquakes were the Haitians own fault”?

First, readers can listen to Robertson, then form their own conclusions. The video is below.

At no point do I hear Robertson actually blame the earthquake on “a pact to the Devil.”  Whether you agree with Robertson or not about the “why,” he was also correct about the long-time suffering of the Haitian people.  And he asks for his viewers to contribute generously to his relief fund.

So, what could have caused so many to get this item so wrong? (more…)

Why did Game Change authors, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann keep quiet on one of the 2008 campaign’s juiciest stories–only to spill the beans eighteen months later?

More importantly, why did they tell their readers about the John Edwards scandal only after it became personally profitable to do so?

Political reporters Halperin and Heilemann signed their book deal in June 2008, reportedly for a “mid- to high- six-figure sum.”co-authors of the ubiquitous political tell-all, Game Change.  Sprinkled amongst this cornucopia of unsourced gossip, rumor, whispers and innuendo are nuggets of hard news, particularly about former 2008 Democrat presidential candidate John Edwards.

Of particular interest was the following passage, from the excerpt published by Heilemann’s employer, New York :

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