Some of us started hearing rumblings and whispers of this over the weekend, but NBC came out very quickly and begged people to remain silent on about this on social media. Whether or not their discretion was helpful I don't know, but this was really the best possible outcome to have:

The abduction and detention of the NBC correspondent Richard Engel and several colleagues by armed men inside Syria this week ended well Tuesday. Although the full story isn’t clear, their saviors seem to have been fighters from an Islamist rebel group, one of several operating in the area, called Ahrar al Sham, and they appear to have been held by a Shiite militia loyal to the Assad regime. (Most of Syria’s population is Sunni, as are most of the rebels, while the Assad regime is Alawite, members of a minority sect of Shiite Islam.) The militiamen were in the process of moving their hostages by vehicles when rival fighters stopped them. In the firefight that ensued, two of their captors were killed and Engel and his companions freed. They were very fortunate; their initial abduction had also involved a gunfight, in which one of their rebel escorts was killed.

Hostage-taking has become part of the landscape of the war in Syria. (Richard Engel has said that his captors spoke of their intentions to trade him and his colleagues for several Lebanese and Iranian citizens believed held by the rebels.) There are a number of foreign reporters missing and presumably being held by one or another faction in Syria, including Austin Tice, an American freelancer and veteran whose work has appeared in the Washington Post and who was reporting from behind rebel lines when he vanished in August. His family has publicly pleaded for his safe return, and reiterated their call after the news of Engel’s release.

The Middle East has become increasingly more dangerous for journalists. Hundreds of them have been threatened, assaulted, jailed, intimidated and even killed during the past several decades. Given the amount of time Engel has spent reporting from areas under great tumult, it's truly amazing that he's avoided this kind of attack up to this point. But it's a testament to his dedication as a journalist (a title I do not bestow lightly) that he has remained there for so long.

I agree that women are shocked and amazed that these issues are being brought up now. It's stunning to think that our children and grandchildren are going to have to fight for autonomy rights we took for granted, but at least the war on women doesn't appear to be paying off for the Republicans:

When the Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey asked last summer which party should control Congress, a slim 46-42 percent plurality of women said it should be the Democrats.

But in a survey released Monday, compiling polling since the beginning of the year, that figure had widened considerably to a 15-point advantage for the Democrats, according to polling by the team of Democratic pollster Peter Hart and Republican Bill McInturff. Fifty-one percent favored Democratic control; only 36 percent wanted to see the Republicans in charge.

Both sides have tried to shape the narrative in this battle for and about women. But many Republicans are beginning to wish they had never waded into what has become a heated conversation over contraception, who should have it and what it says about people who use it.

GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway, an adviser to presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s campaign, said Republicans need to return to pocketbook and fiscal issues: “We know what works, and we need to get back to it.”

[...] Virginia state Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax) said the focus on abortion and contraception will turn many women — and men — away from the GOP.

“I think most women assumed that these were settled issues probably three decades ago and are aghast that it’s been reopened,” Howell said. “Almost half my e-mails ... are from men. And they’re speaking for their wives, their girlfriends, their daughters, and are very upset by what’s happening. Many of them say they have been Republicans but they’re not going to vote Republican in the future.”

Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, financial director for Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law, has been killed in Afghanistan.

MSNBC:

One senior U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity told NBC News that Saeed was killed in an attack by a missile-carrying drone aircraft.

Another official said that "in terms of counterterrorism this would be a big victory," describing Saeed as "the group's chief operating officer, with a hand in everything from finances to operational planning. He was also the organization's prime conduit to Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. He was key to al-Qaida's command and control."

In a series of interviews with Al Jazeera last year, al-Yazid swore that Pakistani nuclear weapons would be used against the US and allied countries if they obtained access to them. (See video above)

More information here about Al-Yazid and his involvement in terrorist training and Afghanistan.

TV Newser:

Insiders tell TVNewser Tucker Carlson's 6pmET show Tucker is getting the axe, but Carlson stays on as a political contributor to all MSNBC shows at least through the 2008 election. The official announcement, expected tomorrow, will include details about who will replace Tucker at 6pmET as well as other political programming additions. Sources say the network is going to beef up its schedule with more NBC News talent.

In recent days, Jossip, as well as other blogs, ratcheted up the talk that Tucker would be replaced "for a new project." In its 33-month run, Carlson's show has had two names, four time slots and multiple formats. At 6pmET, it builds on its Harbdall lead-in on some days, but loses audience on others.

Carlson is expected to host the show through next week, with his new role and title to take effect March 17. We're told he'll also be reporting from the campaign trail. Read on...

Finally! We have documented many of Tucker's atrocities during his time at MSNBC and have been asking for this for years. Carlson will remain at MSNBC as a contributor for the time being, but at last, there's a chance we'll see a reality based, progressive show in that time slot. Rumor has it Air America Radio's Rachel Maddow is working on a show for the network -- we can only hope she gets her shot. She's earned it.

MSNBC:

Federal prosecutors in Arizona have opened a preliminary investigation of a camping trip Congressman Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., took 10 years ago that included two teenage congressional pages, a Justice Department spokesman told NBC News. NBC News first reported on the camping and rafting trip on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Justice Department in Washington said that the U.S. attorney in Arizona has started a "preliminary assessment" of the trip, after an unidentified source made allegations about the congressman's behavior on the expedition.

[..]As NBC News first reported, Kolbe took a tour down the Grand Canyon in July 1996 with a group that included two 17-year-old males who had recently left the congressional page program.

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Imus in Hot water over racial remarks!

From US Wire: Palestinians Called 'Filthy Animals' on MSNBC's 'Imus'; CAIR Calls For Apology, Says Unchallenged Remarks Promote HatePalestinians Called 'Filthy Animals' on MSNBC's 'Imus'; CAIR Calls For Apology, Says Unchallenged Remarks Promote Hate.

Video

Media Matters:From the November 12 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning:

DON IMUS, host: They're [Palestinians] eating dirt and that fat pig wife [Suha Arafat] of his is living in Paris.

ROSENBERG: They're all brainwashed, though. That's what it is. And they're stupid to begin with, but they're brainwashed now. Stinking animals. They ought to drop the bomb right there, kill 'em all right now.

BERNARD MCGUIRK, producer: You can just imagine standing there.

ROSENBERG: Oh, the stench.

IMUS: Well, the problem is that we have Andrea [Mitchell, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent] there. We don't want anything to happen to her.

ROSENBERG: Oh, she's got to get out. Just warn Andrea, get out, and then drop the bomb, kill everybody.

MCGUIRK: It's like the worst Woodstock.

ROSENBERG: Look at this. Look at these animals. Animals!

Wingnut Watch

This is what passes for commentary on some wingnut blogs...

Support the Fallujah Marine

The Marine who killed the wounded insurgent in Fallujah deserves our praise and admiration. In a split second decision, he acted valiantly.

On the otherhand, the traitor, Kevin Sites of NBC News deserves our scorn. Sorry hippie, terrorists don't deserve the benefit of the doubt. Terrorists don't deserve the benefit of the doubt. This Marine deserves a medal and Kevin Sites, you deserve a punch in the mouth.
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Sunday night funnies...
Check out this MSN Homepage under: MSNBC news
The homepage says: Biden: I won't be taken alive:- but it links to Bin Laden vows never to be captured alive. (hat tip Rachell)

Click here for a larger image. (They already fixed it.)

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"Lawyers for NBC News reporter Tim Russert suspected in the spring of 2004 that his testimony could snare Vice President Cheney's top aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, in a lie and Russert resisted testifying at the time about private conversations with Libby, according to court papers released yesterday. It "appears that Mr. Russert's testimony is sought solely because the Special Prosecutor believes that his recollection of a telephone conversation with an Executive Branch official is inconsistent with that official's statements," they wrote."

I wrote about Russert stonewalling Imus (see video) about his conversation with Libby.

Russert: Libby called me to complain about something he had seen on MSNBC...

Imus: What did he complain about on MSNBC, do you remember?

Russert: I haven't gone into it,--you know-publicly-cause I just didn't want to get involved with all that viewer complaints, but I do remember it because of his language that he chose and that's why- I actually called Ben Shapiro, the president of NBC news and said I just gave your direct line to this guy named Lewis Scooter Libby, who is upset about something he watched on TV and you may hear from him.

Imus: Was it Chris Matthews?

Russert: It could be you...

Jane writes: "...while Russert might have fought testifying on any account, it certainly appears that he knew well in advance that his story didn't match up with Scooter's and there is certainly good reason to suspect that this information didn't come from Patrick "leak tank" Fitzgerald....read on"

The Pentagon's Domestic Spy Program

Jeralyn: "The DOD database obtained by NBC News includes nearly four dozen anti-war meetings or protests, including some that have taken place far from any military installation, post or recruitment center...read on"