Category: Media Analysis

Restore Newsmax to DirecTV and Score a Win for Our Free Speech Rights

To truly amass power, a would-be autocrat or totalitarian regime will typically suppress any criticism or dissent that might emanate from those who may wish to challenge such authority.

How is the sinister goal of silencing vast numbers of individuals or organizations reached? By controlling and/or eliminating the free flow of news and information within a society.

Examining Newsmax’s removal from DirecTV’s platform is critical in understanding what has happened to the Fourth Estate, what stage in the totalitarian process we are presently in, and what are the means by which we can make our way back to freedom.

In a 2020 Atlantic article, which was written by Harvard law professor Jack Goldsmith and University of Arizona law professor Andrew Keane Woods, and recently referenced by legal scholar and law professor Jonathan Turley, the article’s authors stated that “in the great debate of the past two decades about freedom versus control of the network, China was largely right and the United States was largely wrong.”

Characterizing “significant monitoring and speech control” as “inevitable,” the authors also determined that “governments must play a large role in these practices to ensure that the internet is compatible with society norms and values.”

This translates into the First Amendment’s complete abolishment.

It is imperative therefore to focus on the recent action by DirecTV (AT&T’s satellite TV provider) in removing Newsmax (the fourth largest cable news channel) from its network, and doing so on the heels of the similar earlier removal of One America News from its lineup.

Twitter owner Elon Musk opened the eyes of so many with the release of the “Twitter Files.” These are internal messages that demonstrate the company, under previous ownership, interacted with government and law enforcement officials to block or restrict prominent right-of-center accounts.

To the rescue have come some heroic office holders that are currently working, via policy and law, to rescue free expression from the jaws of suppression.

The attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana have filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Louisiana against the White House and dozens of government officials, alleging that they have been coercing media to censor political criticisms, which is in direct violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution.

The outcome of the case is part of the valiant effort to restore the First Amendment to its proper place, and to also expose the “disinformation” ruse.

The attorneys general are responding to recent revelations that indicate news media companies, digital platforms and social media companies have worked in tandem with government officials to discriminate against the free expressions of their political opponents.

Andrew Bailey, Missouri’s new attorney general, was blunt in his language regarding administration officials.

“When, in the public forum, there is speech they disagree with and does not align with their political narratives they then collude with and coerce Big Tech’s social media to take that speech down.”

Via the discovery process attendant to the lawsuit, the depositions of administration officials and the production of documents have yielded evidence, which points to explicit and repeated censorship.

The legislatures of Florida and Texas have stepped into the free speech fray by passing new laws that help prevent digital platforms from removing content that is based on viewpoints involving politics, policies and the like.

The new Republican majority in the House has formed a select subcommittee to investigate what chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, described as routine government violations of the First Amendment’s protections.

Legislators have subpoenaed top tech executives of some of the tech industry’s biggest companies. They are conducting a probe into whether there was collusion between Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. to suppress free speech.

Letters demand documents and communications, including any White House communications related to the regulation of content between the companies and administration officials.

Said documents and communications are being sought from Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Perhaps legislators will consider adding the names of the executives who run DirecTV and AT&T to the list.

“Congress has an important role in protecting and advancing fundamental free speech principles, including by examining how private actors coordinate with the government to suppress First Amendment-protected speech,” Rep. Jordan’s office indicated in a statement.

So the free speech battle lines have been drawn. The fight to restore free speech in the digital media realm brings up a simple question.

How much ideological discrimination of speech should a free people tolerate?

Here’s the simple answer.

None.

AT&T All In on the Woke Agenda

AT&T and its subsidiary DirecTV recently dropped Newsmax from its lineup, while leaving in place 22 liberal news channels.

The subsidiary canceled the fourth highest-rated news channel, which left 25 million cable viewers scrambling to get their preferred channel from a different source.

DirecTV’s parent company doesn’t appear to be operating under any kind of conventional business model. The blatant ideological discrimination begs the question: Just how woke is the telecommunications giant?

It turns out that AT&T is so woke its executives are asleep at the wheel.

Congressional investigations are surely coming, as are a growing number of boycotts, etc., that could really have an impact.

In a nutshell, the world’s largest telecommunications company (and third largest provider of cell phones) has insidiously morphed into a far-left organization that poses as a service company.

According to OpenSecrets, during the time period between 1989 and 2019, AT&T was the fourteenth-largest donor to United States federal political campaigns and committees, contributing tens of millions of dollars, a majority of which went straight into Democrat hands.

As Newsmax contributor Jeffrey Lord reported in the American Spectator, the company’s leaders have backgrounds that link them with politicians of the liberal Democrat kind.

AT&T’s board of directors includes a chairman of the board that previously served as FCC chair, and was appointed by former President Bill Clinton. This same chairman of the board was an ambassador that was appointed to the position by former President Barack Obama.

Two board members are reliable contributors to prominent Democratic candidates, including one individual who was an advisor and supporter of former President Bill Clinton, as well as being the co-chair of the left-leaning Brookings Institution.

One board member was an appointee to President Obama’s “President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.”

Another board member was a former President of the Ford Foundation, an outfit that donated millions of dollars to an anti-Trump organization.

AT&T’s board is extremely suspect when it comes to decisions concerning conservative political expression, as Lord wrote in his conclusion:

“Board of Directors of AT&T that is stacked with like-minded far Left extremists who cannot abide conservatives or political dissent.”

And what about AT&T’s top management position?

According to City Journal’s Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, AT&T’s CEO John Stankey launched a radical re-education program in 2020 for his employees, which promoted the following racially tinged idea: “American racism is a uniquely white trait.”

The CEO’s program also pushed left-wing concepts such as “reparations,” “defunding of police” and “trans activism.”

The training essentially massages the minds of white employees into believing that they “are the problem.”

The line of reasoning is based on core principles of critical race theory that include “systemic racism,” “white privilege” and “white fragility.”

So the person at the helm of the telecommunications company is pushing an agenda that could have been crafted by Saul Alinsky?

As Lord observed, “AT&T has been changed from a politically neutral communications company to a woke, far left censor which has charged itself with an obsessive mission of silencing conservatives — Newsmax in this case, and One America News before that.”

AT&T doesn’t exactly have a track record that inspires trust.

–In January of 2006 The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a class action lawsuit, alleging that the company had allowed a government intelligence agency to monitor, without warrants, phone and Internet communications of its customers.

–In May of 2006, USA Today reported that all of AT&T’s international and domestic calling records had been handed over to a government intelligence agency for the purpose of creating a massive calling database.

–In June of 2006, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that AT&T had rewritten rules on its privacy policy so that “AT&T – not customers – owns customers’ confidential info and can use it ‘to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process.’”

–In July of 2006, a federal district court rejected a federal government motion to dismiss EFF’s case. After the case had been appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal appellate court dismissed it in June of 2009.

–In August of 2007, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell confirmed that AT&T was one of the telecommunications companies that assisted with the government’s warrantless wire-tapping program on calls between foreign and domestic sources.

AT&T’s DirecTV pays cable license fees to all 22 left-leaning news channels that it carries, despite the fact that most of the channels have far lower ratings than Newsmax.

Additionally, leftist organizations have exerted pressure on the already woke company to actually get rid of conservative programming.

New York Magazine in January 2022 reported the following: “In recent months, several organizations, including the NAACP and Media Matters for America, had been pressuring AT&T and DirecTV to dump OAN for promoting false information…”

Added to those lobbying the telecommunication company to deplatform Newsmax and other conservative media outlets are Democrats in Congress, who sit on a committee that is charged with regulating AT&T.

Did corporate heads at AT&T via its DirecTV subsidiary set out to suppress the speech of Newsmax? And was the company following the dictates of its fellow left-leaning politicians, media apparatchiks and radical activist groups?

The pieces of the puzzle seem to be falling into place.

Meaningful steps can be taken to let AT&T know that it doesn’t get to rewrite the Constitution.

–Cancel DirecTV by calling 877-763-9762.

–Cancel AT&T by calling 888-855-2338.

–Call congressional representatives and senators at 202-224-3121.

–Sign the online petition at IwantNewsmax.com

–Spread the word.

Freedom of speech hangs in the balance.

What’s Behind DirecTV’s Censorship of Newsmax?

DirecTV just recently removed Newsmax from its channel lineup.

It was less than a year ago that the AT&T-owned media outlet deplatformed One America News (OAN), another digital news source that offers folks a more balanced option to the far-left fare that overwhelmingly dominates the current media ethersphere.

The selective decision by corporate heads appears to have been highly politically motivated, since a host of channels that are filled with radical-left programming are still readily available to DirecTV users, even though viewing audiences remain in short supply.

Newsmax, on the other hand, ranks as the fourth highest-rated cable news channel in the nation. But now the more than 15 million customers of DirecTV, DirecTV Stream, and U-Verse are no longer able to access Newsmax’s alternative to the knee-jerk liberal content that appears on almost all of the other news and information channels.

One of the outlets with an extreme left-wing agenda that is allowed to freely prattle on is Vice Media. The channel is a virtual promoter of the trademark liberal political violence that has been witnessed over the past several years. Not only does Vice Media get to remain on the platform, it turns out that it is being subsidized financially by a managing owner of DirecTV.

Newsmax has experienced tremendous growth precisely because it continues to deliver to audiences the content that they seek; content largely denied to them elsewhere. Comprehensive coverage of national and international news, governmental operations, legal procedures and rulings, federal, state and local politics, etc., are on the daily docket.

With this latest move, DirecTV is essentially stifling speech that counters the Democratic Party’s carefully crafted and disseminated narrative.

Could it have anything to do with the looming 2024 presidential election? You be the judge.

Republican congressional members are rightly indignant about DirecTV’s decision. Many are publicly condemning the unprecedented move.

In light of the recent Twitter file revelations that point to probable collusion between government and technology platforms, it seems as though the perfect opportunity has presented itself for the new GOP-controlled House to investigate the origins of DirecTV’s decision to engage in what appears to be blatant ideological discrimination.

House committees may be taking a closer look at an entity called TPG Capital. This is a private equity fund that reportedly owns a 30% stake in DirecTV and also appears to oversee the cable company’s operations.

A few more details. TPG Capital is the private equity arm of the global asset firm TPG, which has fully adopted a woke-oriented agenda referred to in the business world as Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG).

ESG is a sort of measuring tool to gauge whether or not business organizations are sufficiently onboard with the woke agenda in order to qualify for financing and other advantages that equity firms provide.

On its website, TPG boasts about its ESG bona fides:

“TPG first adopted a Global ESG Performance Policy in 2012 and became a signatory to the UN Principles of Responsible Investment in 2013. Each year, we continue to strengthen and deepen the integration of ESG performance throughout the firm.”

While AT&T owns 70% of DirecTV, the telecommunications company had earlier sold a 30% stake to TPG.

AT&T named TPG as DirecTV’s operational manager. Under the terms of the transaction, the current DirecTV is governed by a board with two representatives from AT&T, two from TPG, and an additional fifth seat designated for the CEO.

The politics of those at the top rung of TPG are of the ultra-liberal kind. TPG’s executives have given Democratic candidates 90% of their political donations. The private equity firm has also subsidized the aforementioned far-left news network Vice Media to the tune of hundreds of millions.

The TPG partners that have been appointed to the DirecTV board are David Trujillo and John Flynn. Trujillo is a source of funds for Democrat politicians that include former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senator Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra.

Interestingly, prior to the time OAN was jettisoned from DirecTV, Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee had admonished the cable carrier for the “spread of dangerous misinformation.”

Representatives Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., and Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., had written letters to a dozen cable, satellite and streaming video companies, including DirecTV, demanding without evidence that the content providers give an explanation as to why they were allowing Newsmax, OAN and Fox to remain on their platforms, accusing the media companies of “disseminating misinformation to millions” of users.

“Misinformation on TV has led to our current polluted information environment that radicalizes individuals to commit seditious acts and rejects public health best practices…,” the representatives wrote, singling out Newsmax, OAN and Fox.

With two out of three outlets on the list going down, Congress needs to act fast to rescue free speech from the clutches of the stealth partners in the censorship battle.

Conservative Spanish Radio Now in the Hands of a George Soros-funded Group

Talk radio host Lourdes Ubieta

George Soros is a well known supporter of high-profile liberals and their panoply of left-wing causes.

To this end, tens of billions of dollars have been distributed to many a left-leaning group through Soros’s Open Society Foundations.

Over the past several years he has given millions to the campaigns of so-called progressive criminal justice-related candidates. In some instances, extraordinarily large campaign contributions were used to take out political opponents of “preferred” candidates.

Confused and sad, the public could only gaze at the aftermath of a political strategy that had been implemented with calculated planning and precision.

Prosecutors who favored minimal prosecution and no-bail policies for dangerous felonies were elected to office, including District Attorney of Philadelphia Larry Krasner, District Attorney of Los Angeles County George Gascón and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.

With this backdrop, it is hardly a subject of debate that Soros has profoundly altered the criminal justice system in America and placed in jeopardy the welfare of individuals, businesses and institutions.

One of Soros’s latest designs has been to quietly move toward gaining control of a major conservative-leaning communications outlet serving the Spanish-speaking community.

With Democrats experiencing an unanticipated decline in support from Hispanic voters, it could be that Soros felt the need to step in and further manage the flow of news and information to the Spanish speaking voter contingency.

In any event, a media company was formed in June of 2022. The goal was to acquire a group of radio stations from TelevisaUnivision, including a flagship of conservative talk radio in Miami, Radio Mambí.

Latino Media Network is the media company that ultimately purchased Radio Mambí, along with 17 other Spanish language radio stations.

Spanish language stations in major markets across the country were part of the deal, including some located in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Antonio.

The media company happens to be run by two former Democratic political advisers, Stephanie Valencia and Jess Morales Rocketto. The duo worked on the political campaigns of former President Barack Obama and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Valencia also served as an official in the Obama White House.

One other pertinent note: The media company’s acquisition was financed by an investment entity affiliated with Soros.

Historically, Radio Mambi has been linked to the Cuban exile community. The Spanish language station had long been a unique source of content that was anti-communist, anti-Castro and pro-traditional values. What it will now become is left to the imagination.

In great part due to Soros’s reputation, when news of the proposed acquisition emerged, people in South Florida became seriously concerned that the reliable flow of information from their beloved talk station was in jeopardy.

“They want to use those 18 radio stations and start peddling socialism to the Hispanics,” said Republican Rep. Maria Salazar, who represents Miami and is a regular guest on Radio Mambí.

Salazar characterized the station as “one of the bastions of free speech.”

“We know what Soros thinks about conservatives and what he thinks about Republicans,” Salazar said. “I don’t believe for one minute that Soros wants to be [im]partial, nonbiased.”

Florida’s two GOP senators, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, were also opposed to the sale.

Salazar and the two senators, along with additional Republican members of Congress, signed a letter to the FCC in an attempt to halt the transaction.

Those who were in support of the purchase brought up a familiar refrain that is used to justify speech suppression. They claimed that there is a pressing need to address “disinformation.”

Predictably, the FCC brushed aside the opposing arguments and approved the proposed sale.

Interestingly, the Radio Mambi station has lost some of its biggest stars, perhaps in an unexpected response to the sale. Host Lourdes Ubieta abrupty left, saying that she would never accept a paycheck from anyone connected to Soros.

Additionally, former Radio Mambi hosts Dania Alexandrino and Nelson Rubio chose to exit as well, letting it be known that they refuse to work for the Soros-linked group.

Ubieta, Alexandrino and Rubio can now be heard on the new talk radio station Radio Libre (WAXY-AM 790), which launched in September in advance of the planned Soros takeover.

Radio Libre offers a Spanish language conservative talk radio alternative to the Miami market.

In saying the following, Ubieta may be speaking of freedom with ancestral and/or personal experience gained the hard way. She no doubt speaks for many.

“America is a free country,” she said in an interview. “Even an avowed global socialist with a clear radical political agenda can buy our media outlets to silence their opposition.”

The talk radio host recalled a previous radio network with which Soros was involved, warning that he “…tried talk radio once before with Radio America and failed miserably. And today Miami market ratings show he’s on his way to defeat again, even before he gets started.”

To which the Spanish speaking community and its conservative soul mates say Amen!

The ‘Gospel’ According to Joe Scarborough

Joe Scarborough is the current co-host of the MSNBC show “Morning Joe,” where wife Mika Brzezinski sits alongside him.

He used to be a Republican.

No, really, I’m serious. But let’s start with some background.

Joe’s early days garnered him a Catholic high school degree, a B.A. in

History and a Juris Doctor. This was seemingly preparation for what was to come.

From 1995 to 2001, he served under the GOP label as a U.S. congressman from the great state of Florida.

While in the House of Representatives, he was awarded a 95 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union. He also signed on to then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s famed “Contract with America.”

Apparently, something major happened to Joe in the years that would follow, politically, personally and otherwise. And it has a lot of folks who once admired him trying to figure out what the heck went wrong.

I’m one of them. Joe and I go back to the days of “Conservative Chic.” Truly historic times.

Among other professional and personal interactions, I was a guest on his former prime time MSNBC show “Scarborough Country.”

Ideologically, a very different media figure is sitting in the host chair today, and now it looks like spiritually as well.

He seems to be able to act, speak and breathe very comfortably in a realm of irrationality.

There are many puzzling things about Joe 2.0. But rivaling for most disturbing is a recent one in which he appears to move from presenting questionable news to preaching questionable theology.

His current claim is that long ago Jesus Christ placed a sort of stamp of approval on abortion.

Using his platform on the “Morning Joe” show, he veered into what can aptly be described as a spiritual danger zone, twisting the Word of God to bolster a pro-abortion position.

Joe told his audience that since there is no biblical passage to point to in which Jesus explicitly mentions abortion, then ending a life in the womb must therefore be acceptable to the Lord.

He didn’t stop there, though. He went on to directly attack Christians, stating that those who believe their faith instructs their consciences to view abortion as a moral wrong are heretics.

As a former Southern Baptist, Joe evidently feels comfortable enough with his biblical expertise to take to the MSNBC pulpit regarding the content and meaning of the Gospels.

“Jesus never once talked about abortion,” he said. “Never once, and it was happening back in ancient times. It was happening during His time.”

Joe went on to charge Christian pro-lifers with “perverting the gospel of Jesus Christ down to one issue” as well as accusing them of being guilty of “heresy.”

He wasn’t done yet. He asserted that pro-life individuals have “conveniently overlooked the parts of the New Testament where Jesus talks about taking care of the needy, taking care of those who are helpless, who live a hopeless life.”

Well here are a few Sunday school lessons that many of us, including Joe, might want to use to refresh our memories and maybe even update our consciences.

The Good Book is filled with passages that tell us just how precious each one of us is in God’s eyes.

— He tells us that He created each of us “in his own image.” (Genesis)

— He tells us that each “fruit of the womb” is a “gift” from above. And that He “knit me together in my mother’s womb.” (Psalms)

— He says that “before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” (Jeremiah)

— He speaks the words of love to us, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

(Jesus quoted in the Gospel of John)

— He describes the feelings of joy present in pre-born life, “…the infant in my womb leapt for joy.” (from the Gospel of Luke: What Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist, says upon hearing the greeting of Mary, who is pregnant with Jesus.)

— He tells us that each one of us is His “temple” and that His “spirit dwells” in us. (1 Corinthians)

Guess it’s appropriate we end with a round of Jesus Loves Me.

Because He really does. From the moment of conception.

Joe Rogan Verbally Spars with CNN’s Sanjay Gupta

Actor, comedian, TV personality, UFC color commentator, and podcast host Joe Rogan has achieved a level of success in life to which very few can lay claim.

His entertainment industry profile reads like a Hollywood dream sheet. He has been a comedy specials creator and host of the popular reality series “Fear Factor.” Most currently, he has put together what may arguably be deemed the most successful podcast in the world.

Back in his early teens Rogan developed an interest in martial arts. His first martial art was Taekwondo. He would go on to earn the title of Massachusetts full-contact state champion for four consecutive years.

At one time he thought he might become a professional kickboxer. Instead he took on the role of stand-up comic, which eventually propelled him to the stage at The Comedy Store in Hollywood.

Rogan had some acting roles too, including being part of the NBC sitcom “NewsRadio” cast. It was here that he would become friends with fellow “NewsRadio” cast member Phil Hartman.

During a discussion between the two, Hartman shared with Rogan that he was experiencing some difficulties in his marriage. On numerous occasions, Rogan tried to convince the SNL standout that it might be better for him if he left his wife.

Hartman failed to accept Rogan’s advice, saying that he wanted to remain in the marriage for the sake of the children. No one could have known about the tragedy that awaited. In 1998 Hartman’s life would end at the hands of his wife.

The loss of his friend deeply impacted Rogan, and he canceled a series of performances that had been scheduled. But time heals and spirits are renewed.

He would later secure the role of backstage and post-fight interviewer for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). An eventual friendship with UFC president Dana White afforded him the opportunity to earn the post of color commentator for the fights. Four times he would be named MMA Personality of the Year by the World MMA Awards.

Rogan started hosting the NBC show “Fear Factor” in 2001. He continued to do stand-up performances even as he carried out his host duties on “Fear Factor,” which went on for six straight seasons, with a seventh season airing years later in 2011.

A very busy man, he would become co-host of Comedy Central’s “The Man Show” in 2003.

At the end of 2009, he ventured into the podcasting world with a fellow comedian named Brian Redban. The title of the podcast would later be whittled down to a single host’s name. It rose to fame and lives on as “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

The podcast features an interview format on a wide variety of topics, with a special emphasis on politics, philosophy, and news. It was first picked up by SiriusXM Satellite Radio and later by Spotify in a record breaking $100 million deal.

Most recently, Rogan became the unfortunate target of the cancel culture crowd.

His crime? Asking questions about vaccine mandates and COVID therapies. And having the gall to have expert guests appear on his show to explain their positions.

After Rogan himself tested positive for COVID-19, he chose to use Ivermectin as part of a therapy to regain his health. CNN anchors, including Jim Acosta, Brian Stelter, Erin Burnett, and Jim Sciutto, went on the attack and attempted to smear and denigrate him.

CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta made an appearance on Rogan’s podcast. It was here that Rogan took the opportunity to confront the guest regarding the network’s false characterization of Ivermectin, which Rogan had used to facilitate his recovery. CNN had labeled the medication a “horse dewormer.”

“It’s a lie,” Rogan said during the interview. “It’s a lie on a news network … and it’s a lie that they’re conscious of. It’s not a mistake. They’re unfavorably framing it as veterinary medicine.”

He asserted that CNN mischaracterized a drug that has been “given out to billions and billions of people.”

Part of Rogan’s appeal is just this – people love his blunt approach.

Gupta quickly found out that Rogan was not going to mince words during the interview.

“Why would they lie and say that’s horse dewormer?” Rogan asked Gupta. “Don’t you think that a lie like that is dangerous on a news network when you know that they know they’re lying? … Do you think that that’s a problem that your news network lies?”

Like a fighter who out-maneuvers his opponent, Rogan further drove his point home, emphasizing that CNN is Gupta’s employer.

“Does it bother you that the network you work for out and out lied, just outright lied about me taking horse dewormer?” Rogan grilled Gupta.

Finally Gupta conceded, using the phrase “they shouldn’t have said that.”

As for Rogan, the round continued with him landing some additional verbal punches.

“Why did they do that?” Rogan asked.

“I don’t know,” Gupta responded.

“You didn’t ask [CNN management]? You’re the medical guy over there!” Rogan pointed out.

The now very uncomfortable Gupta admitted that he should have asked.

It was then that Rogan, having transformed into a media critic, moved the focus to the central issue; that is, the responsibility and credibility of Gupta’s network.

“My point is you’re working for a news organization,” he said.

Rogan added the following flurry: “If they’re lying about a comedian taking horse medication, what are they telling us about Russia? What are they telling us about Syria? Do you understand that that’s why people get concerned about the veracity of the news?”

With that, the interview effectively ended with what in Rogan’s former profession is called – a technical knockout.

Jon Voight: A Hollywood Rebel

As most folks know full well, Jon Voight is a multi-nominated and Academy Award winner as well as a four-time Golden Globe recipient, whose sterling career has spanned the decades.

The actor also happens to be an exception in today’s celebrity world in that he is one of those rare independent-minded thinkers.

Voight came to prominence in the late 1960s with his Oscar nominated performance in the iconic movie “Midnight Cowboy.”

During the 1970s, he cemented his brand as a genuine Hollywood A-lister with starring roles in the films “Deliverance,” “Coming Home,” and “The Champ.”

He took the Best Actor Oscar for his role in “Coming Home,” after having been nominated for the award three times prior.

In an interview on a recent episode of Lisa Boothe’s podcast, Voight was direct in his description of the current state of so-called journalism, as practiced by today’s compromised media.

“… this is just like Pravda. There’s no difference,” Voight said.

The actor also opined that if one happens to be a reader of The New York Times, then what is being ingested is nothing but “phony stuff.”

Voight has firsthand experience in dealing with what those in the news media and various other subdivisions of society are promulgating. He himself has been the recipient of some intense peer pressure as well as a sizable degree of wrath from a cancel culture that has run amok.

Still, he chooses to live and work in one of the most “woke” places on the planet, the ever-tilting Left Coast.

Voight envisions a simple way in which folks can counter the press distortion that is taking place each and every day. He encourages a more pro-active approach to the exercise of freedom with regard to news and entertainment choices.

“There are many brave people that are stepping up and very brave teachers who are in the industry, the entertainment industry, and in the…news industry that are stepping up and giving us a direction. So we have to find those people and stick with them and support them,” Voight stated.

His willingness to speak what is on his mind has not inhibited his ability to continue in his chosen artistic profession. Voight is currently in New Haven, Connecticut, filming a feature-length finale of the hit series “Ray Donovan.” It is a production that almost didn’t happen.

“Ray Donovan” is a Showtime television crime drama series. The storyline centers around the main character of the series’ title, who is portrayed by Liev Schreiber.

Donovan is a professional “fixer” for the rich and famous. He can make anyone’s problems disappear; that is, except those that are created by his own family.

Voight plays Mickey Donovan, Ray’s conniving father.

When the pilot episode first aired in June 2013, it was the biggest premiere Showtime ever had. For his work on the show, Voight was awarded a Golden Globe in 2014 for Best Supporting Actor.

Then in February 2020, after seven successful seasons, the cable network abruptly announced the cancellation of the series, which brought frustration to viewers of the show, particularly because several plot points were left unresolved.

The unusual decision to cancel the series was reportedly done for political reasons. It all happened amid the merger between CBS (owner of Showtime) and Viacom. Showtime seemingly “did not recognize the power of the fan base and social media.”

Fan power ultimately won out. In February 2021 it was announced that the show was returning in the form of a feature-length movie, which is set to premiere in 2022. The new film version picks up where season seven left off.

This was great news for Voight, who once again is back in front of the Showtime cameras.

Voight, of course, has a famous daughter, mega-movie actress in her own right, Angelina Jolie. What folks may not know is that Voight’s family also includes brother James Wesley Voight, who goes by Chip Taylor, a singer-songwriter with the hit tunes “Wild Thing” and “Angel of the Morning” to his credit.

Voight’s view of faith and family may have been shaped by his Catholic Christian background and his attendance at a Catholic high school.

In 2019 he said that God is asking Americans to protect the values of family during these times.

“Family is being attacked by people who are really trying to tear down the fabric of our society,” Voight told The Christian Post.

“Imagine, God’s asking us to help Him out. Can you imagine? That’s the greatest thing!” he said.

The actor then quoted Scripture.

“‘Who will go for me,’ says God to Isaiah, and he says ‘send me.’ There are many people who are really strong people, very bright people and very good people who have said, ‘send me.’ That’s why I have to think that there’s no doubt of that. It’s all been written: we will win the battle,” he said.

“…we know it’s hard but this battle will be won by those who pursue the truth; they will prevail,” Voight added.

In July 2020 he posted a video on his Twitter account in which he speaks of the greatness of America as a precious providential gift. It was characterized by some in the establishment press as a religious rant.

“God the Almighty gave all this to us, so we as a civilization with all our greatness must give back and we shall protect the USA with God, and He who understands this Liberty must protect as well,” Voight states.

He then calls for a return to fundamental principles that have undergirded American life.

“Let us all protect this beautiful nation,” Voight says, adding, “Let us all give back. We must not take for granted this breath we breathe, because without God’s love, we would not be here. So bring back faith and trust.”

I see Voight as a Hollywood rebel with a cause, one for which America can be grateful.