| | MEDIA WINNER: FCC Commish Brendan Carr On Monday, two Democratic House members sent letters to a number of major and cable and satellite providers, in an effort to get Fox News, Newsmax, and OAN driven off the air. But the head of the FCC issued an immediate, firm, and deserved rebuke. In a letter to major providers including AT&T and Verizon, Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Jerry McNerney (D-CA) asked if Fox News, Newsmax, and OAN will continue to be transmitted. “Misinformation on TV has led to our current polluted information environment that radicalizes individuals to commit seditious acts and rejects public health best practices, among other issues in our public discourse,” the representatives wrote. They added, “Are you planning to continue carrying Fox News, Newsmax, and OANN on U-verse, DirecTV, and AT&T TV both now and beyond any contract renewal date? If so, why?” Brendan Carr, an FCC commissioner, was unequivocal in his condemnation of the letter from the California representatives. “This is a chilling transgression of the free speech rights that every media outlet in this country enjoys," Carr said in a statement. He added, “Debate on matters of public interest should be robust, uninhibited and wide open. More speech is better than less." Carr, it must be noted, is a Republican — and his rebuttal to the Democratic House members was undoubtedly partisan. ("The Democrats are sending a message that is as clear as it is troubling," Carr said, in his statement.) Further, Carr's power is far from absolute. His is just one vote of five on the commission — which has a vacancy following the departure of former chairman Ajit Pai. But the rejection of Eshoo and McNerney's proposal to drive Fox News, Newsmax, and OAN off of cable systems ought to be universal. While there are scores of issues to be taken with the content on these networks, the proposal from the two House Democrats is not the solution. |
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| MEDIA LOSER: Tucker Carlson Mediaite's Colby Hall argued in an op-ed out today: Tucker Carlson ended Monday’s show taking issue with Merrick Garland pledging to prosecute "white supremacists" involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection on the Capitol. The Fox News host called that claim from the would-be attorney general "completely dishonest" and insisted there is "no proof" that white supremacists are responsible for the deadly attack. Garland’s comment that outraged Carlson was made before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday. If confirmed, Garland said, he would "supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy and the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government." Carlson was scathing in his response: "This was not a moderate statement. It was dishonest. Completely dishonest. Dishonest enough you should be worried about it. There’s no evidence that white supremacists were responsible for what happened on January 6th. That’s a lie." The Fox News host’s accusation that Garland lied before the committee might strike you as baffling. You would not be mistaken. First off, Garland’s comments, which Carlson aired for his audience, were fairly clear: as attorney general, he would supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol. That is an utterly factual and uncontroversial claim. White supremacists were very clearly part of the mob of Trump supporters that ransacked the Capitol. One was wearing a hoodie that said "Camp Auschwitz" (How would Tucker describe someone wearing that? Fox News declined to comment.) Why someone on cable news is standing up to reject the obvious fact that white supremacists were involved in the attack remains a mystery. Read the rest of the column here. |
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| Planned and Coordinated The Senate hearing on the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters got underway on Tuesday morning. The proceeding is the first in either chamber of Congress examining the riots. The Senate committees on rules and homeland security are holding the hearing jointly. Four witnesses are slated to appear on Tuesday morning: acting Chief of Police Robert J. Conte, former chief of Capitol police Steven Sund, former Senate sergeant-at-arms Michael C. Stenger, and former House sergeant-at-arms Paul D. Irving. Sund, Stenger, and Irving all resigned from their positions following the Jan. 6 attack. In testimony before the Senate committees, the officials all agreed the attack was planned and coordinated. Ted Cruz Gets the Post-Vacation Blues In a new podcast interview, Ted Cruz addressed the controversy swirling around his decision to fly to Cancun for a vacation last week as his state dealt with a devastating energy crisis. Cruz expressed his support for a new philosophy (one that might sound alien to anyone that just lived through the Trump era): "Here’s a suggestion: Just don’t be a**holes. Like, just, you know, treat each other as human beings have some degree, some modicum of respect." The irony of Cruz's call for decency being made on a podcast called "RUTH LESS" — launched after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg opened up a seat for a conservative justice on the Supreme Court — was not lost on Twitter. Fauci Looks Back Dr. Anthony Fauci has been reluctant to bash the former administration, which he served under. But when he was asked on CNN Tuesday morning whether President Donald Trump's "denial and lack of facts contributed" to the staggering U.S. death toll, he did not hold back. “I certainly think that that’s part of it,” Fauci said. “When you have such a common force, such a powerful force against you…you’ve got to do it together in a unifying way and not have any kind of political ideology divisiveness getting in the way of what we’re trying to do. That’s not the only thing that really was a problem, but that’s certainly in my mind, having lived through it, was something that I found really to be unfortunately damaging.” That death toll, according to most tallies, now stands at a devastating 500,000. Promotions at Fox News Over at Fox News, some notable promotions: Mike Emanuel was named chief Washington correspondent and star national reporter Jacqui Heinrich is transitioning to cover the Capitol as congressional correspondent (alongside veteran reporter Chad Pergram.) CPAC Approaches CPAC, the conservative political conference that sparks a thousand headlines every year, is back this week. Taking place in Orlando starting on Thursday, and culminating with a highly-anticipated speech from Donald Trump on Sunday, the conference has already drummed up controversy. Young Pharaoh, a pro-Trump speaker, was disinvited from CPAC after a series of horribly anti-Semitic posts of his were unearthed. “We have just learned that someone we invited to CPAC has expressed reprehensible views that have no home with our conference or our organization,” CPAC said in a statement. ”The individual will not be participating at our conference.” 6.5.0 |
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Speaking of CPAC CPAC chief Matt Schlapp appeared on Chris Cuomo's CNN show Monday night for an interview that devolved into a clash over debunked claims of widespread voter fraud. "You just don’t like that you lost in the state. You don’t like that the Supreme Court refused to see any merit to your claims," Cuomo said in response to Schlapp's claim that multiple counties and states did not follow their set election laws. Schlapp then shifted his argument to focus on people allegedly voting multiple times or in multiple states, causing Cuomo to interrupt once more. "You’re making a straw man argument. It’s a boogeyman argument,” he said. "There is no proof of rampant fraud. Nobody is saying the process is perfect. You lost.” In a futile last effort, Schlapp tried to argue that court rulings on electoral fraud were meaningless. "Just because you fail in court doesn’t mean you don’t have a good case. It means you lost in court, and the fact remains that you can say it wasn’t enough voter fraud," he said. Cuomo hit back saying, "these arguments are making things worse." Watch the full debate here. |
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