Christmas came early this year with three wishes granted. Obama fought and protected Middle Class and poor tax cuts. Republicans fought and saved the Wealthy Bush tax cuts. Former President George H W Bush stuck a deal to save Dick Cheney from going to jail in Nigeria with a mulit million pay off for his bribe crimes.

It seems texting will hurt you and it's true with the two woman who accused Wikileak Chief with rape. They should have paid attention to Tiger Woods case. Now the cat is out of the bag and it seems many not involved in the leak corruption want the claims again Wikileak dropped. Vice President Bden cleared up the fact no harm was done to national secuirty and even the House Jud. didn't fine a crime was done. But there is always those who just like to get on TV and will say something stupid.

It's great to see so many people helping this year as many are suffering. We did our usual and packed up gifts for the troops because many forget them with so much going on. Take pride in knowing the troops are glad President Obama is looking to end the conflict in Afghanistan just like he did in Iraq. Notice how no one bothered to say how well he handled the end of occuption in Iraq. We had Afganistan on the back burner for 7 years and now it's as if we were paying attention all that time.

Have a great weekend all and stay safe

Good Evening Mr.Williams, A fine broadcast this evening. Thank You for the video on this posting from BriTunes of your interview with Martin Sexton. His songs have meaningful words and he does have a great sound. Will look for cd's! And the posting of Aloe Blacc from his performance on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" was terrific. He is really talented and and the song had a good beat! Thank You for all the wonderful music postings tonight!

Always an excellent broadcast.

Be Safe and Warm this weekend in all the cold weather. I hope the wintry weather heading towards the New England States isn't too harsh.

Sad to learn of a Medal Of Honor recipient passing away. Melvin Biddle ( I hope the last name is correct) was a true hero and a brave soldier. We Honor and Salute him.

The "Making A Difference" segment about Loren Krueger from Leroy,Minnesota was amazing. Mr.Krueger, who after he died had left so much money to the community showed how much he had saved over his lifetime and cared so much for his community. Losing both his first and second wives along with his son told of sorrow and grief in his life. Very sad. Yet, to leave over 3 million from his estate to all those churches the Senior Center which helped give to schools along with so many other things was incredible. All those churches were able to make vital improvements to their places of worship which is wonderful. Mr.Krueger being frugal with his money in his life helped so many people. Truly a heartwarming piece.

Thank You for the broadcast Mr.Williams. Have a wonderful weekend! Peace to You and to All!

Be Well Everyone!

Stay Extra,Extra Safe and Well Richard! Great to know you are back in the States! Looking forward to some excellent reporting!

Take Extra Good Care Richard and Crew!

Lisa

The story about the hockey team and their fans donating thousands of teddy bears to charity was awesome. However, some of the magic was lost when Mr. Williams said it was not unusual to see hats, octopi and 16oz Molsons thrown on the ice. The suggestion, of course, is that hockey fans are rowdy hooligans. As the story illustrates, however, hockey fans are the best fans in the world - and hockey is the best sport in the world. I think Mr. Williams owes hockey fans an apology for perpetuating the myth that hockey fans are thugs. That said, it was a great story - minus the introduction.

i am playing catch-up, brian, the stories about the baby elephant shelter were amazing. i didn't realize that ivory poaching is still a big thing. i hope they catch those awful poachers. back in the early 2000's, i bought a book about a little elephant named 'little bull' that i sent to a friend for his little boy. the little elephant was born with deformed legs and his mother would wait patiently for him as they travelled with the herd. eventually, his legs gained strength and healed. the story also highlighted the treacherousness of the summer heat and drought in the savannah and the critical import of the summer rains. they were late that year. i can see where it easily becomes a matter of life and death for the animals of the serenghetti. i put the prayer for rain in my prayer garden that year and renew it every year. we will do zoo lights on my portland trip, the city zoo does a great job every year, they have a wonderful zoo. best, anna martina

Thanks so much for making my little video of the Teddy Bear Toss your Video of the Day! It was amazing to find here!

Neil in Calgary (the Dad from the video)

I owe Brian Williams an apology. Earlier this week, I accused Brian of announcing a Rolaids recall on Dec. 9 solely to benefit Prevacid, whose ad appeared shortly after the Rolaids story. That accusation was inappropriate and I shouldn't have made it. After careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that Brian announced the Rolaids recall to benefit Tums, rather than Prevacid. While Tums and Prevacid are both competitors of Rolaids, Tums is a much more direct competitor. And like Prevacid, Tums is also a regular Nightly News advertiser. But the big difference is that Tums has sponsored four "Making A Difference" segments in the past two months, while Prevacid has never sponsored a MAD segment. As such, Tums is a much more valuable Nightly News sponsor than Prevacid. Clearly, Brian meant to help Tums, not Prevacid, by announcing the Rolaids recall. I sincerely regret any damage to Brian's reputation that may have resulted from my accusation.

In his 1/27/10 blog post, Brian Williams bragged that he personally writes the obituaries that appear on Nightly News: "I think it's safe to claim that of the three network evening broadcasts in our time slot, we air the most obituaries. To me, it's a source of enormous pride...In our newsroom, it's well known that I write the obituaries. I put as much care into writing them as I do the items at the very top of the broadcast, where wording and tone and facts are absolutely critical."

Give me a break. Pride? Care? Facts? What about accuracy? On Thursday, Brian read obituaries for director Blake Edwards and pitcher Bob Feller. In the Edwards obit, Brian said, "He gave the world its first glimpse of Bo Derek in the movie '10'". Not true. Bo Derek made her film debut two years earlier in the 1977 movie "Orca". And during the Feller obit, Brian said, "He played almost his entire career...with the Indians." Actually, there's no "almost" involved. Feller spent his entire career with the Indians--he did not pitch an inning for any other team, either major league or minor league. Is this what Brian meant by putting care into writing obituaries? He doesn't even care enough to get the facts straight. R.I.P. accuracy.

If you didn't watch Nightly News this week, here are some things you may have missed:

Tuesday--Kerry Sanders reported on the weather from the Universal Orlando theme park in Florida, which is owned by NBC's parent company. Sanders made sure to specifically plug The Wizarding World of Harry Potter--one of the main attractions at Universal's Islands of Adventure. This "news" segment was just a cheap and crass commercial for Universal Orlando.
* Brian Williams spent thirty seconds reporting on the Golden Globe Award nominations, which will be televised on NBC in January. Does anyone really believe that Brian would have bothered with this story if the Golden Globes was being shown on another network?
* A 2:30 story about holiday music is devoted mostly to Susan Boyle and Jackie Evancho. Over the past 20 months, Nightly News has devoted nearly 20 minutes of news time to Susan Boyle in order to satisfy the viewers' thirst for feel-good entertainment stories. And most of the Jackie Evancho clips came from her appearances on "America's Got Talent"--which allowed Nightly News to plug that NBC show. Why is a network news broadcast wasting our time with this stuff?
Wednesday--For the second consecutive night, Nightly News spent the first five minutes of the broadcast showing the wintry weather around the country, as if cold and snow in December is breaking news. By contrast, The CBS Evening News spent 15 seconds reporting on the weather. Because NBC Universal paid $3.5 billion for The Weather Channel, they feel obligated to devote up to a quarter of their Nightly News broadcast to the weather.
Thursday--The "Making A Difference" segment was a 2:50 story on people who take care of baby elephants in Kenya. The story was reported by Maria Menounos, who is best known as a "reporter" for the celebrity gossip show Access Hollywood. Menounos's final line was, "Turns out the biggest lesson learned is that elephants are as human as the rest of us." This is what passes for news on NBC? A gossip reporter telling us that elephants are human? What would John Chancellor think?
Friday--A story on McDonald's happy meals is nothing more than a 2:30 commercial for one of NBC's biggest advertisers. This "news story" includes 15 seconds of actual McDonald's commercials.
* Brian reports the death of another Medal of Honor winner. This isn't surprising, since Brian serves on the board of directors for the Medal of Honor Foundation. Reporting about an organization on whose board he sits is a huge conflict of interest for a news anchor. This doesn't seem to bother Brian.
* The night's final story is a five-minute-long "Making A Difference" segment about a Minnesota man who left $3 million to various charities after he died. Isn't there any actual news to report?

Brian: That teddy bear clip was very cool. It seems there were more teddy bears in that arena than spectators. What a neat way to do something positive for kids. With all the gloomy news pervading the airwaves, it was invigorating to see a joyous story for a change.

I saw that clip about the ICE TRAIN you mentioned. That must have been a terrible experience for all passengers, but everything turned out ok. I'll catch you on the braodcast, Monday night. Have a great weekend.

Lester, Remember, several weeks ago I wrote that I wished our Local NBC News would not pre-empt

your broadcast as there was a 11:00 o'clock news. Well, I got my wish, this evening there was

just 15 minutes of Local news and NBC Night News was aired in its entirety. That said, I hope it sets

a precedent. The mystery of Amelia Earhart seems solved to me. What woman is ever without

her compact mirror? Phyllis

Thanks to Janet Shamlian for the update on Amelia Earhart. The Discover Channel program opened a new area of investigation, adding to the theories of crashing into the Pacific or being captured and executed as a spy by the Japanese. Hopefully, modern forensics will end the mystery, or keep it going.

PS I am glad Amanda Knox got a break, and I thought Prince William's finance Kate looked both

classy and hip in her black and white dress.

Lester, another terrific broadcast, as always, excellent news stories. I agree with the Marine who was

quoting as saying Mann should be executed (I believe I have the name right); and, in my opinion,

the Don't Ask, Don't Tell may be short-lived now. Making a Difference about the Marines and toys

for children was so inspirational. You can always count on the Marines!!! Have a nice eveing

and stay safe. Phyllis

Reviewing the National Debt from 2000 to 2010 really clears up how Obama got punked by the Fed. No wonder Bush wouldn't give Obama any of the Economic reports until after he was sworn in office. Smart move Obama would have figured out how the Fed was giving Banks 3 Trillion dollars just before Bush left office. Which brought the total National Debt to 12 Trillion dollars. You don't have imagnine this when all you had to do was read.

B of A is showing their guilt as they rush to stop Wikileaks from publishing the scam done by the Banks. What's sad is few people realize Wikileaks isn't the only website with information. I did notice when Wikileaks published the so called secrets of Russia, Iran and even China there was no problem as a matter of fact it was good for the US to learn. But now no national secruity secrets have been released but everyone want Wikileaks arrested some call them terrorist. We saw no problem with Dick Cheney releasing classified document or even leaking Covert CIA Agent Plames name when most of her spys were killed when her name was published. You have to wonder what the US means when it says terrorist or treason. As for the Wikileak Chief's charge of rape with one victim skipping out and the other caught with the damaging text messages. That ended the charge as it boiles down to jilted woman. But she does work for the CIA and it did put Julian in his place, don't mess with the US or let our secrets out. Now Obama has to decide if he will protect the corrupt Banks or let them deal with what crimes they have done causing the International Economic Recession. Few bothered to read the names of those involved in the collape of Greece and other countries. I remember law makers side if the US impeached a President it would destory the country, then came Hank Paulson who cried the END is Coming if the Banks don't get the bailout aka Bonus money. With the Republican control Congress Banks can look forward to the good days coming back with even bigger bonuses.

have a great day

Happy Holidays to Brian, Lester, and everyone at NBC NEWS at 30 Rock. And Happy Holidays to fellow bloggers here!