Al Gore Sues Al Jazeera America

Former Vice President Al Gore has filed a breach of contract suit against Al Jazeera America, alleging that the network is withholding $65M owed from the sale of Current TV. Note the name of Gore's attorney.

“Al Jazeera America wants to give itself a discount on the purchase price that was agreed to nearly two years ago,” Gore’s lawyer David Boies said in a statement. “We are asking the court to order Al-Jazeera America to stop wrongfully withholding the escrow funds that belong to Current’s former shareholders.” Boies said the full complaint was sealed at the request of Al Jazeera but that Gore and his business partner Joel Hyatt believe it should be made public. In the case summary from court documents, Gore and Hyatt allege fraud and breach of contract. “Rather than return the $65 million remaining in the escrow, as it was obligated to do, defendant, on June 27, 2014, submitted five claim certificates through which it attempts to manufacture several ways to retain all of the escrow balance for itself in express violation of the merger agreement,” said the summary.

Boies also represented Gore in 2000's Bush V Gore, which gave us Dubya's first term. The winning attorney in that case, of course, was Ted Olson.

Al Gore On 2016

"You say you can ask the question a million ways. I’m going to only answer it one way. With apologies, I’m sure you’ve heard this answer before. I am a recovering politician. And the longer I avoid a relapse the more confidence that I will not succumb to the temptation to run yet again. But I’m a recovering politician. I’ll just leave it at that." - Former Vice President Al Gore, declining to give Politico a direct answer when asked his plans if Hillary Clinton doesn't run for president.

Al Gore On Global Warming

"I think the most important part of it is winning the conversation. I remember as a boy when the conversation on civil rights was won in the South. I remember a time when one of my friends made a racist joke and another said, "Hey man, we don’t go for that anymore.' The same thing happened on apartheid. The same thing happened on the nuclear arms race with the freeze movement. The same thing happened in an earlier era with abolition. A few months ago, I saw an article about two gay men standing in line for pizza and some homophobe made an ugly comment about them holding hands and everyone else in line told them to shut up. We’re winning that conversation." - Al Gore, who has caused quite a stir by comparing global warming deniers to racists and homophobes.

O'Reilly Slams Al Gore Over Current Sale

Al Jazeera Buys CurrentTV

In a move that has wingnuts screaming, Al Jazeera has acquired Al Gore's CurrentTV.

Al Jazeera on Wednesday announced a deal to take over Current TV, the low-rated cable channel that was founded by Al Gore, a former vice president, and his business partners seven years ago. Al Jazeera plans to shut Current and start an English-language channel, which will be available in more than 40 million homes, with newscasts emanating from both New York and Doha, Qatar.

For Al Jazeera, which is financed by the government of Qatar, the acquisition is a coming of age moment. A decade ago, Al Jazeera’s flagship Arabic-language channel was reviled by American politicians for showing videotapes from Al Qaeda members and sympathizers. Now the news operation is buying an American channel, having convinced Mr. Gore and the other owners of Current that it has the journalistic muscle and the money to compete head-to-head with CNN and other news channels in the United States.

The deal is valued at $500M with about $100M going to Gore.  The new channel will be called Al Jazeera America with about 40% of its programming coming from the respected (by some) Al Jazeera English.

Quite predictably, Pam Geller is furious.

Full circle and out of the proverbial closet. The left goes full-on jihad. Al Jazeera has acquired Current TV. More jihadist propaganda on your cable dial. Lord knows that there is a plethora of Muslim Brotherhood mouthpieces on broadband, but a dearth of pro-freedom voices (i.e. SUN TV). Al Jazeera is the leading terrorist propaganda organization in the world.

RELATED: Last last night Time Warner Cable announced that they will not carry the new channel.

UPDATE: Below is the image appearing this morning on Current's channel for Time Warner NYC.   I'll miss watching the Stephanie Miller Show.

Al Gore On Hurricane Sandy

"This week, our nation has anxiously watched as Hurricane Sandy lashed the East Coast and caused widespread damage--affecting millions. Now more than ever, our neighbors need our help. Please consider donating or volunteering for your local aid organizations.  The images of Sandy’s flooding brought back memories of a similar--albeit smaller scale-- event in Nashville just two years ago. There, unprecedented rainfall caused widespread flooding, wreaking havoc and submerging sections of my hometown. For me, the Nashville flood was a milestone. For many, Hurricane Sandy may prove to be a similar event: a time when the climate crisis—which is often sequestered to the far reaches of our everyday awareness became a reality. Sandy was also affected by other symptoms of the climate crisis. As the hurricane approached the East Coast, it gathered strength from abnormally warm coastal waters. At the same time, Sandy's storm surge was worsened by a century of sea level rise. Scientists tell us that if we do not reduce our emissions, these problems will only grow worse. Hurricane Sandy is a disturbing sign of things to come. We must heed this warning and act quickly to solve the climate crisis. Dirty energy makes dirty weather." - Al Gore, writing on his personal blog.

Current TV Fires Keith Olbermann

After months of battling Current TV's owners and management, Keith Olbermann was fired today. The dismissal letter is harsh.

“We created Current to give voice to those Americans who refuse to rely on corporate-controlled media and are seeking an authentic progressive outlet. We are more committed to those goals today than ever before. Current was also founded on the values of respect, openness, collegiality, and loyalty to our viewers. Unfortunately these values are no longer reflected in our relationship with Keith Olbermann and we have ended it.”

Olbermann won't even be allowed the dignity of a farewell to his viewers, his slot tonight will be taken by Eliot Spitzer, of all people.

UPDATE: Olbermann says he plans to sue.

I'd like to apologize to my viewers and my staff for the failure of Current TV. Editorially, Countdown had never been better. But for more than a year I have been imploring Al Gore and Joel Hyatt to resolve our issues internally, while I've been not publicizing my complaints, and keeping the show alive for the sake of its loyal viewers and even more loyal staff. Nevertheless, Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt, instead of abiding by their promises and obligations and investing in a quality news program, finally thought it was more economical to try to get out of my contract. It goes almost without saying that the claims against me implied in Current's statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently.

Arctic Sea Ice At Record Low

Al Gore notes on his blog:

“The National Snow and Ice Data Center reports that Arctic sea ice probably reached its maximum extent for the year on March 7, which was 5.65 million square miles.

“The maximum extent was 1.2 million square kilometers (463,000 square miles) below the 1979 to 2000 average of 15.86 million square kilometers (6.12 million square miles), and equal (within 0.1 percent) to 2006 for the lowest maximum extent in the satellite record,” the center, which is part of the University of Colorado-Boulder, reported Wednesday.”

Yup, it's all a scam.

Keith Olbermann: Joining Current TV?

Keith Olbermann announced today that he'd be revealing a major career development tomorrow. Word is leaking out tonight that he's joining Al Gore's Current TV.

This was about as unexpected as it gets, and yet it makes a lot of sense for both Olbermann and the network. Olbermann is reportedly set to take a stake in the channel as well, which could make this more than just a typical TV talent deal. It could be more akin to the kind of pact Oprah Winfrey and Discovery Communications struck for her new cable network, OWN. That said, the extent of Olbermann’s involvement on-air is not yet known; he could simply recreate his own MSNBC show for an hour every weeknight or try something more ambitious like Winfrey did, molding the entire channel’s sensibility in her own image. Being an owner instead of an employee is also best for Olbermann and someone of his, shall we say, temperament, or risk chafing yet again under the reins of another corporate overlord (see MSNBC, Fox Sports, ESPN etc.). That said, we can all look forward to the inevitable headlines of Olbermann and Gore duking it out.

Al And Tipper Gore Separate

Former Vice President Al Gore is separating from his wife Tipper after 40 years of marriage.

"This is very much a mutual and mutually supportive decision that we have made together following a process of long and careful consideration," the couple said in an e-mail obtained by Politico. "We ask for respect for our privacy and that of our family, and we do not intend to comment further." The news is being greeted with shock in Washington, D.C. Few political couples seemed as close as the Gores back during his vice presidential years, 1993 to 2001.

This IS a surprise.

Quote Of The Day - Donald Trump

"With the coldest winter ever recorded, with snow setting record levels up and down the coast, the Nobel committee should take the Nobel Prize back from Al Gore. Gore wants us to clean up our factories and plants in order to protect us from global warming, when China and other countries couldn't care less. It would make us totally noncompetitive in the manufacturing world, and China, Japan and India are laughing at America's stupidity." - Donald Trump, speaking at his self-named private golf club in New York's Westchester County.

Sean Hannity: East Coast Blizzards Mean Global Warming Is Untrue

Rachel Maddow responds in typically hilarious fashion.

Al Gore Endorses Obama, Is He A Veep Prospect?

Al Gore finally endorsed Obama last night.

Former Vice President Al Gore made his debut appearance in the presidential campaign here Monday evening, offering a vigorous endorsement of Senator Barack Obama and urging Democrats to keep in mind the consequences of not taking the general election with grave seriousness.

“Looking back over the last eight years, I can tell you that we have already learned one important fact since the year 2000,” Mr. Gore said. “Take it from me, elections matter. If you think the next appointments to the Supreme Court are important, you know that elections matter.”

Mr. Gore and Mr. Obama strode onto the stage arm in arm to thundering applause from a crowd of nearly 20,000 people at a downtown arena. As Mr. Gore ticked through a long list of challenges facing the nation, he hailed Mr. Obama as “clearly the candidate best able to solve these problems and bring change to America.”

Mr. Gore had purposefully stayed on the sidelines during the long Democratic primary fight. He announced his endorsement of Mr. Obama a few hours earlier on Monday in a message to supporters on the former vice president’s vast e-mail list. Their appearance here touched off a flurry of curiosity among Democrats, with many quietly asking if Mr. Gore would be on Mr. Obama’s list of prospective running mates.

Oh please oh please oh please.

Gore-Obama?

Some fascinating fantasizing from TIME's Joe Klein:

Let's say the elders of the Democratic Party decide, when the primaries end, that neither Obama nor Clinton is viable. Let's also assume—and this may be a real stretch—that such elders are strong and smart enough to act. All they'd have to do would be to convince a significant fraction of their superdelegate friends, maybe fewer than 100, to announce that they were taking a pass on the first ballot at the Denver convention, which would deny the 2,025 votes necessary to Obama or Clinton. What if they then approached Gore and asked him to be the nominee, for the good of the party—and suggested that he take Obama as his running mate? Of course, Obama would have to be a party to the deal and bring his 1,900 or so delegates along.

I played out that scenario with about a dozen prominent Democrats recently, from various sectors of the party, including both Obama and Clinton partisans. Most said it was extremely unlikely ... and a pretty interesting idea. A prominent fund raiser told me, "Gore-Obama is the ticket a lot of people wanted in the first place." A congressional Democrat told me, "This could be our way out of a mess." Others suggested Gore was painfully aware of his limitations as a candidate. "I don't know that he'd be interested, even if you handed it to him," said a Gore friend. Chances are, no one will hand it to him. The Democratic Party would have to be monumentally desperate come June. And yet ... is this scenario any more preposterous than the one that gave John McCain the Republican nomination? Yes, it's silly season. But this has been an exceptionally "silly" year.

No Relief On Super Tuesday

The way the delegate math is shaping up, Super Tuesday will not provide us with a clear Democratic leader. According to predictions, even after February 5th, Clinton and Obama will be within 10 percentage points of each other in delegate count and neither is expected to withdraw.

Can we really endure another seven months of this? The convention isn't until the last week in August.

I keep flashing back to Al Gore saying in December that he "wouldn't entirely rule out" his ever being a candidate again. Damn him for saying that. At least the Draft Gore movement officially closed up shop a few weeks ago, after the deadline to get him into the primaries became a "legal impossibility." But you never know. If the convention turns into the morass it's shaping up to be, how wonderful would it be to find Al Gore behind the curtain?

I know. I'm dreaming.

Gore-Clinton.
Gore-Edwards.
Gore-Obama.

Those are in alphabetical order because right now I just can't give enough of a fuck about the three leaders. How's that for reasoned political analysis?

UPDATE: Interestingly, the "Question Of The Day" on CNN today is: "If the Democratic Convention is deadlocked, should Al Gore enter the race?"

Al Gore For Gay Marriage

Once again, I must express my regret that Gore isn't running this time.

Flashback: January 2001

Here's a pic taken in the Oval Office in January 2001 as President Al Gore graciously showed George W. Bush where he would have been working, had the Supreme Court approved his attempt to steal the election. As you know, shortly after this photo was taken, rampant peace broke out worldwide, the Earth cooled by several degrees, and Britney Spears won Mother Of The Year.

Yeah, I should really stop licking toads in the morning.
.

Al Gore: Oscar, Emmy, Nobel Peace Prize

By now you probably know that Al Gore has been awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for global warming work. Gore joins Americans such as Jimmy Carter and Martin Luther King. Now we can only hope that the Draft Gore movement gains more steam and convinces him to enter the 2008 presidential race. I like Hillary Clinton, but not wholeheartedly. Gore, however, is a man I can support without much reservation.

Draft Gore Movement Grows Louder

Al Gore had scarcely stepped away from the microphone at Sunday night's Oscar ceremony, where An Inconvenient Truth won 2 statuettes, before the cries of "Run, Al, run!" began to echo even louder through the blogosphere. Check out DraftGore.com for more information. Richard Cohen has a great column on Gore's potential candidacy in today's Washington Post. How do you feel about another Clinton/Gore administration? How about Gore/Clinton?

Nobel Nomination For Al Gore

Al Gore has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his tireless work to publicize the issue of global warming. Those eligible to submit nominations include former Nobel winners themselves, members of national governments, selected university professors, and members of the awards committee. The Peace category of the Nobels has been widely criticised for some of its winners in recent years, such as Mikhail Gorbachev, Yasser Arafat, and Kim Dae-jung.