Europe

Officials in Catalonia, Spain's richest and most highly industrialized region, whose capital is Barcelona, recently held a referendum in which there was a 92 percent vote in favor of independence from Spain. The Spanish authorities opposed the referendum and claimed that independence is illegal. Catalans are not the only Europeans seeking independence. 

ABC’s Nightline on Thursday night did a “deep dive” into the world of “ultra-conservative,” “far-right” mobs in Europe and connected Donald Trump to the continent’s “history of hate.” Reporter James Longman seemed to go out of his way to say “far-right” as much as possible and blur the line between regular conservatives and bigots.

What made NBC's Superstore think that their viewers would want to watch an entire episode about health care policy? We really don't, however, in their November 2 episode, "Health Fund," that's exactly what they gave us.

On Monday, NBC’s Today finally discovered the elusive secret to happiness – European-style socialism. While taking a bicycle tour of Copenhagen with National Geographic’s Dan Buettner, correspondent Cynthia McFadden proclaimed: “For 40 years Denmark has ranked as one of the happiest places on Earth....the Danes make life less stressed and more joyful.”  

Did you know that Rowan County, Kentucky clerk Kim Davis went to jail for contempt of court in 2015, for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples? If not, the New York Times will happily remind you of the fact, over and over, in a Friday story on Davis traveling to Romania to support that country’s fight against gay marriage: “Kentucky County Clerk Campaigns Against Same-Sex Marriage in…

As Wyoming Republican Senator John Barasso appeared as a guest on CNN's Wolf show, host Wolf Blitzer pushed for the creation of a national health insurance program along the lines of the Bernie Sanders "Medicare for all" plan as he claimed that a similar system used in Canada and Europe "works well."

Former CNN personality Piers Morgan and co-host Susanna Reid hounded a Conservative member of the British Parliament on ITV's Good Morning Britain on Wednesday over his Catholic views on sexuality and abortion. The pair wouldn't accept Jacob Rees-Mogg's repeated affirmation that he "support(s) the teaching of the Catholic Church" on traditional marriage, and badgered him to explicitly say he…

The Associated Press, in covering the Islamic terrorist attacks in Barcelona and Cambril, Spain last week which which killed at least 14 people, twice noted that the attacks were carried out by an "Islamic terrorist cell." But not even the obvious facts about the attacks in Spain could move Reuters, arguably the world's leading wire service with obviously heavy influence in the U.S., to properly…

In what has to be seen as a bit of a welcome change from the norm, Friday morning coverage at the Associated Press of the Thursday terror attacks in Spain which, as of the time this post was written, had killed a total 14 and injured 125, many seriously, hasn't gone wobbly or weaselly. That said, there's one connection the AP and others in the press haven't made. Someone needs to.

There was sad news out of Barcelona, Spain on Thursday as an apparent ISIS terrorist attack gripped the historic city. As of the writing of this piece, it had been reported that the vehicle attack had claimed the lives of 13 people and left over 100 injured. But despite the attack, and with suspects still at large, NBC Nightly News couldn’t find it in them to shake their Trump fixation. They…

Echoing a similar prior sentiment from CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, during MSNBC’s 1 p.m. ET hour on Thursday, NBC News Terrorism Analyst Malcolm Nance argued that violence in Charlottesville, Virginia may have inspired the unfolding vehicle terrorist attack in Barcelona, Spain.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer was anchoring the network’s breaking news coverage Thursday afternoon on the possible radical Islamic terror attack in Barcelona, Spain when he made the inartful and arguably pathetic assertion that the truck attack could be “a copycat” of the neo-Nazi car attack on Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

I spent much of my Friday binge-watching Comrade Detective, a show that resists genre, but is perfect in its oddity. Released on August 3, Amazon bills the show as a Romanian detective show from the 1980s that was actually thinly disguised anti-capitalist propaganda. They then brought in such talent as Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt to dub over the original Romanian dialogue. In reality…

New York Times’ journalist Adam Nossiter let some righteous pro-refugee anger seep into his Wednesday report from Paris, “France Ordered to Provide Bare Essentials for Migrants -- Policies Assailed As ‘Degrading.’” Nossiter certainly sounded more like an advocate than reporter in his lead: "After banking on neglect, hostility and mistreatment to discourage a steady trickle of migrants, the new…