It dawned on me – – that the main reason I don't like her is that I find her patronizing. To me, she speaks to the plebeians, rather than the patricians. And it bugs me.

Noam Chomsky also spoke about the crisis:

http://www.alternet.org/story/149786/chomsky:_why_the_mideast_turmoil_is_a_direct_threat_to_the_american_empire/

It dawned on me – – that the main reason I don't like her is that I find her patronizing. To me, she speaks to the plebeians, rather than the patricians. And it bugs me.

I can see that. I also think she's a boring and terrible interviewer. The only thing I find engaging about her is that she's a great field reporter, even in her older age. She's not afraid of getting her face blown off to get the story.

I don't want to make it sound as I consider myself to be this elitist whatever, but she, together with a huge chunk of other media, just dumbs down issues and chews them to make them more digestible. People can be clever, no need to underestimate them. Your public is as idiotic as you want them to be. Which, I presume, actually is the goal, to make people less smart and make them not care or something.

The only thing I find engaging about her is that she's a great field reporter, even in her older age. She's not afraid of getting her face blown off to get the story.

That's true.

The images/footage of people on horses and CAMELS was jaw dropping. Crazy.

So many reporters are being attacked now. Major props to them for putting their neck on the line like this.

http://www.thewrap.com/media/column-post/more-journalists-attacked-arrested-detained-cairo-24435?page=0,0

>> Foreign journalists were beaten with sticks and fists by pro-government mobs on the streets Cairo on Thursday and dozens were reported detained by security forces in what the U.S. called a concerted attempt to intimidate the press. [AP]

>> Two reporters working for The New York Times were released on Thursday after being detained overnight in Cairo. [NYT]

>> The Washington Post's Cairo bureau chief Leila Fadel, photographer Linda Davidson and Sufian Taha, a translator, "were among two dozen journalists arrested this morning by the Egyptian Interior Ministry. We understand that they are safe but in custody and we have made urgent protests to Egyptian authorities in Cairo and Washington. We've advised the state department as well." [WaPo]

>> "The Greek daily newspaper Kathimerini said its correspondent in Cairo was hospitalized with a stab wound to the leg after being attacked by pro-Mubarak demonstrators in central Tahrir Square. He has been released. A Greek newspaper photographer was also beaten." [AP]

>> NBC News' Ann Curry: "International journalists are now being forcibly prevented from reporting from Cairo." [@AnnCurry]

>> The Toronto Globe and Mail’s Sonia Verma and Patrick Martin "were detained shortly before 8 a.m. ET. The pair, along with their driver, were scooped up at a checkpoint by men in civilian clothes who seized their passports, Ms. Verma said. After learning they were journalists, one of the men commandeered their car." They were released a few hours later, and said it was part of an apparent campaign by the Egyptian military to round up journalists. [Globe and Mail]

>> Al Arabiya said its headquarters in Cairo came under sustained attack from pro-Mubarak demonstrators. “They destroyed some equipment outside the building, and they said they would come in and destroy everything,” said Nakhle El Hage, the channel’s news director. [NYT]

>> "Spotters stand outside many hotels, watching balconies with high-powered binoculars. When they see balconies with camera equipment or photographers, they use radios to call in the details. Egyptian police sources say that information from those spotters has been used to conduct several raids on journalists’ hotel rooms in recent days." [Al Jazeera]

>> "Two employees of Al Jazeera were dragged out of their car on the road from the airport to central Cairo and were detained." [NYT]

>> "The Qatar-based pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera said in an e-mail that three of its journalists were detained by security forces and another was reported missing." [AP]

>> ABC News international correspondent Christiane Amanpour said that on Wednesday her car was surrounded by men banging on the sides and windows, and a rock was thrown through the windshield, shattering glass on the occupants. They escaped without injury. [ABC]

>> An ABC producer and cameraman driving were carjacked at a checkpoint and driven to a compound where they were surrounded by men who threatened to behead them. They were able to convince the men to release them without any harm. [ABC]

>> CBS newsman Mark Strassman said he and a camera operator were attacked as they attempted to get close to the rock-throwing and take pictures. The camera operator, who he would not name, was punched repeatedly and hit in the face with mace. [ABC]

>> CBS News’ Lara Logan reports she was marched back to her hotel at gunpoint when she and a crew were taking pictures of protests. [ABC News]

>> Jon Bjorgvinsson, a correspondent for RUV, Iceland's national broadcaster, but on assignment for Swiss television in Cairo, was attacked on Tuesday as he and a crew were filming. The journalist and his team were apparently accused of being foreign spies, according to Icelandic news website Ice News. Bjorgvinsson was "knocked to the ground, his camera was broken, and his clothes were ripped." [CPJ]

>> BBC reported that its correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes' car was forced off the road in Cairo "by a group of angry men." He has detained by the men, who handed him off to secret police agents who handcuffed and blindfolded him and an unnamed colleague and took them to an interrogation room. They were released after three hours. [CPJ/BBC]

Speaking of Amanpour:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/03/christiane-amanpour-mubarak_n_818260.html

Kudos to her for getting that. She really is one of the best in her field.

Anderson Cooper tonight is broadcasting from an undisclosed location and he actually stated he is fearful for what comes next. Many are speculating Mubarak's regime is going to take the main square by force to push the anti-government protesters out which would explain why they are going to great lengths to snuff out the foreign media.

Anderson Cooper tonight is broadcasting from an undisclosed location and he actually stated he is fearful for what comes next. Many are speculating Mubarak's regime is going to take the main square by force to push the anti-government protesters out which would explain why they are going to great lengths to snuff out the foreign media.

So to break this down further...people are speculating the "Muslim Brotherhood' mobs attacking news crews are actually people Mubarak hired to keep their cameras off of what he's about to do next: which is basically send the police back out to the streets to bust some heads and kill more people who are anti-government. Do I have it right?

So to break this down further...people are speculating the "Muslim Brotherhood' mobs attacking news crews are actually people Mubarak hired to keep their cameras off of what he's about to do next: which is basically send the police back out to the streets to bust some heads and kill more people who are anti-government. Do I have it right?

I am not saying the Mubarak regime is in "cahoots" with the Muslim Brotherhood as you seem to be suggesting. That wasn't my point at all. My point was though whether the foreign media censorship is government orchestrated or not, it certainly makes it easier for pro-Mubarak forces or the regime itself to retaliate in an unjustifiable manner against the anti-regime protesters.

A side note though, even without "censorship" we aren't getting the full story. I know that. The American media especially clearly has an agenda in all of this, despite people like Cooper saying we just are after the "truth".

A side note though, even without "censorship" we aren't getting the full story. I know that. The American media especially clearly has an agenda in all of this, despite people like Cooper saying we just are after the "truth".

Cooper and others may very well be after the truth. He just might have someone over his head telling him what he can/cannot report.

http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

Cooper and others may very well be after the truth. He just might have someone over his head telling him what he can/cannot report.

Yep, and that's truth I think we can bank on.

Violence from the streets of Tunisia to Egypt -- and the U.S. struggle to find the right diplomatic response -- is raising questions about whether its intelligence community failed to predict things were about to boil over.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/02/04/mideast.intelligence.obama/index.html?hpt=C1

A 30 year regime done in 18 days of protest. Astonishing!

Is it over or will they just find a new figurehead?

Well... If the military doesn't restrain a possible Islamist regime of the Brotherhood... Probably Israel will intervene and there will be carnage.

Well... If the military doesn't restrain a possible Islamist regime of the Brotherhood... Probably Israel will intervene and there will be carnage.

Repealing DADT couldn't have come at a better time.