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Facing a wave of grassroots pressure, one of the largest television providers in the U.S. reportedly plans to drop the far-right, rabidly pro-Trump One America News Network, an outlet that has come under fire for disseminating falsehoods about the 2020 election results, the coronavirus pandemic, and other major issues.
Bloomberg reported late Friday that DirecTV has informed OANN's owner, Herring Networks Inc., that it intends to "stop carrying the company's two channels when their contract expires" in early April.
The move comes after civil rights organizations and other advocacy groups called on DirecTV and AT&T—which owns a 70% stake in the satellite-TV provider—to sever ties with OANN for "spreading anti-democratic disinformation, promoting Covid-19 conspiracy theories, and fueling racism."
According to a recent Reuters investigation, AT&T—the world's largest telecom company—"has been a crucial source of funds flowing into OAN, providing tens of millions of dollars in revenue."
"The dangerous conspiracies and lies regularly aired on OANN have worsened a public-health crisis and given oxygen to baseless claims about the irrefutable outcome of our last presidential election," Nora Benavidez, senior counsel and director of digital justice and civil rights at Free Press, said in a statement Friday.
"OANN can say whatever it wants on its own soapbox, but it does not have an automatic right to a national audience through DirecTV," Benavidez added. "We welcome the news that DirecTV has made the decision to stop carrying OANN, especially knowing millions of viewers will no longer be subsidizing this hateful content with their monthly pay-TV bills."
Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters, also applauded DirecTV's move, calling OANN "a cauldron of misinformation and extremism."
"Without DirecTV, OAN would certainly not exist in its current form and possibly not at all," said Carusone. "Now that OAN's anchor distributor has dropped them, Verizon FiOS (OAN's second major distributor) should follow suit. And certainly no other cable provider should pick them up."
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Oath Keeper sedition indictments are an 'ominous sign' for Donald Trump: former federal prosecutor
January 15, 2022
Appearing on MSNBC early Saturday morning, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner claimed the seditious conspiracy charges filed against eleven members of the Oath Keepers pararamilitary organization on Thursday should worry Donald Trump and former advisor Steve Bannon.
Speaking with host Lindsey Reiser, Glenn Kirschner was asked if the rarely-filed sedition charges would have a ripple effect that couldswamp the former president.
According to the former prosecutor, there was a direct link between the Oath Keeper's action on Jan 6th and Trump's comments that could come back to haunt the former president.
"It's really important because when you read the details of this 48-page indictment, it has echoes of what Steve Bannon said in the run-up to January 6th," Kirschner began. "You know: 'it will be swift, it will be moving, it will be unlike anything we have ever seen before.' He was exactly right. So doesn't that raise the question, what did he know?"
"But for Donald Trump, I think the parallels are even more dramatic with respect to Donald Trump's statements and conduct, when we compare it to what we see in this indictment," he continued. " For example, why did the Oath Keepers choose January 6th to come to the Capitol? Because Donald Trump said, 'come to D.C.. on January 6th, we'll be wild.' Why did they name their communications channel, the 'Stop the Steal' channel? Well, because Donald Trump incessantly tweeted out, 'stop the steal.'"
"Why did they march on the Capitol after the rally? Because Donald Trump said, 'now we're going to the Capitol, and I'll be right there with you,'" he continued. "Why did they, quote, 'fight like hell' once they got to the Capitol? Because Donald Trump said 'if you don't fight like hell you won't have a country anymore.' And finally, why did they view Mike Pence as the enemy? Because Donald Trump, on January 6th, tweeted, and I quote, 'Mike Pence didn't do what he should have done to protect our country and our constitution.'"
"You know what," he concluded. "Donald Trump runs through this 48-page indictment and I think that's an ominous sign of things to come."
Watch below:
MSNBC 01 15 2022 07 36 32 youtu.be
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Virginia’s Republican attorney general-elect fires dozens of lawyers
January 15, 2022
He has yet to be sworn in but Virginia's Republican Attorney General-elect Jason Miyares has already fired dozens of lawyers, including those working in the Office of Civil Rights, and including those who are not political appointees but career civil servants.
Miyares campaigned on enforcing the law while promising to refuse to allow coronavirus mitigation efforts including masks and vaccine requirements, despite the surging pandemic.
But enforcing the law – certainly specific aspects like civil rights – will be much harder when he is sworn into office on Saturday.
"I've been told incoming AG @JasonMiyaresVA just FIRED the entire civil rights division in the Attorney General's office," tweeted Virginia Democratic state Senator L. Louise Lucas, the President Pro tempore. "My bill helped create and expand the authority that this division uses."
"This whole campaign we had to listen to @JasonMiyaresVA whining about local prosecutors choosing not to prosecute certain crimes- then he gets elected and eliminates an entire division dedicated to enforcing civil rights law. Total hypocrisy and it needs to be SEEN," she added.
It's unclear if Miyares has fired the entire civil rights division but the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports he has fired 30 attorneys including "Helen Hardiman, an assistant attorney general who focuses on investigating and litigating against housing discrimination in the Office of Civil Rights."
"I am not a political appointee. I don’t have a political job,” she says, adding she has 20 cases that are in court or going to trial.
"I don’t want those people who have been discriminated against to be left hanging," Hardiman said. "I also felt like a cursory email with 24 hour notice was unprofessional. And I’m disappointed that the new administration seems to be signaling that they care less about civil rights issues like fair housing than the current administration."
On his Twitter page Miyares posted numerous platitudes and promises like, "My oath of allegiance is to follow the law, to respect the code of Virginia, and the people of Virginia As AG, I am going to go back to calling balls and strikes and we are going to enforce the law."
He also posted tweets attacking coronavirus mitigation policies, saying, "no Virginian should be forced to choose between their job and the vaccine."
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