Via America’s Lawyer: The Supreme Court greenlights media mega-mergers under the FCC. RT correspondent Brigida Santos joins Mike Papantonio to explain how corporate consolidation of media companies poses an existential threat to local news stations. Become a member today!: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYWIEbibRcZav6xMLo9qWWw/join Support us by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon, and help keep progressive media alive!: https://www.patreon.com/TheRingofFire Find our merchandise at Teespring: https://teespring.com/stores/rof-store Spread the word! LIKE and SHARE this video or leave a comment to help direct attention to the stories that matter. And SUBSCRIBE to stay connected with Ring of Fire's video content! Support Ring of Fire by subscribing to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/theringoffire Be sociable! Follow us on: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RingofFireRadio Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RingofFireRadio Google+: http://plus.google.com/118415831573195648557 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ringoffirenetwork/ Follow more of our stories at http://www.TROFIRE.com Subscribe to our podcast: http://www.ROFPodcast.com *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos. A Supreme Court ruling will allow the FCC to loosen media ownership rules, paving the way for even more media consolidation. Brigida Santos joins me now to talk about the details of this. This is really kind of a nightmare, isn't it, Brigida? This ruling is the final say on the issue of what does it mean for consumers is that that's the suffering. The consumers are going to suffer because of this, the way I see it. What's your take? Yeah. The unanimous decision overturns a lower court ruling that blocked the FCCs 2017 repeal of media ownership regulations. So instead this new ruling cements that 2017 decision, which eliminated a 42 year ban on cross ownership of newspapers, television and radio stations in a given market by a single entity. So for consumers, this means less competition, fewer local news choices and less diversity of information and ideas. We already have a problem with monopolies in this country where just six companies control 90% of our media. This decision could consolidate media even further, which could of course increase media bias and lead to the suppression of information that just a few parent companies may not like. Well, you know, this is actually being equated that the impact of this to Citizens United, this is actually being equated to it has that kind of impact for our culture. And to get, put it into perspective 1980, there were what almost 60 individual privately owned or corporately owned, but 60 media outlets. Now it's down to three. So now we're going to have ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSzu1tD5gCw

The January 6th Committee has created a new subcommittee that will make determinations about criminal referrals before the Committee comes to an end next month. With Republicans retaking the House, the Committee is now working against a hard deadline to get everything completely finished before the end of the year, so criminal referrals could be coming much sooner than we think. Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins explains what's happening. Link - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/17/january-6-subcommittee-capitol-attack-criminal-referrals  Check out our merch by visiting our store: https://www.buyrof.com/ Subscribe to our podcast: http://www.ROFPodcast.com Become a member today!: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYWIEbibRcZav6xMLo9qWWw/join Support us by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon, and help keep progressive media alive!: https://www.patreon.com/TheRingofFire Spread the word! LIKE and SHARE this video or leave a comment to help direct attention to the stories that matter. And SUBSCRIBE to stay connected with Ring of Fire's video content! Support Ring of Fire by subscribing to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/theringoffire Be sociable! Follow us on: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RingofFireRadio Twitter: https://twitter.com/RingofFireMedia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ringoffirenetwork/ *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos. The January 6th committee has announced the creation of a new January 6th subcommittee that consists of Jamie Raskin, Zoe Lofgren, um, uh, uh, uh, Liz Cheney and Adam Schiff. And the job of this new subcommittee is to determine whether or not, and if, whether then which criminal referrals to send to the Department of Justice. Here's what's happening. That January 6th committee, they see the writing on the wall. They know that their time is up. It's disappointing that their time is up because their job is not even close to being done. There is still so many, uh, people there, there, there's so many things that we didn't even get to hear about, they didn't get to hear about. We did not even scratch the surface of the events of January 6th. The events running up to it, the events after it, there's still so much we didn't know. And unfortunately, I think those are things that forever we will not know. But now we're at the point, right? We're at the goal line. And so Benny Thompson, the chair of the committee, said, all right, you four, it's your job. Go and determine whether or not we're sending criminal charges. We're kind of done here. That is a huge leap forward for this committee. Thompson also said that they are working on the final report, which will come out in December because they know they would love to continue the job, right? Let's be perfectly clear about that, and I would love for them to continue the job. But Republicans starting on January 3rd, they got the majority in that house. The first thing they're gonna do if that committee still existed is kill it metaphorically, hopefully, but it wouldn't exist anymore. So they've gotta get everything done in a month. That's all the time we've got one month. But I do think it's very telling that he picked those four members, Raskin, Cheney, Schiff, and Lofgren. Those have been some of the more outspoken folks. Those are definitely the biggest anti-Trump folks. So it almost seems like Benny Thompson wanted to send the people who hate Trump the most to determine whether or not we're gonna charge Donald Trump. So I won't be surprised if that four member subcommittee does recommend charging Donald Trump. Now, the problem with all of that, of course, is that the committee itself cannot charge. All they can do is refer. So they would then send the charges to the doj. The DOJ would look at them and say yes or no. If they say no, then it's done. Nothing we can do about it. If they say yes, then hold your horses folks, because we've got some pretty fun times up ahead of us. So that's what's happening. But there are, according to reports, some members of the main January 6th committee that don't even think any criminal referrals are necessary, which is kind of scary. You know, you've, you've looked through all of this and you're like, ah, we're Fine. But the reason they don't think any is necessary is cuz they think the DOJ is gonna, you know, they're gonna do it. They're gonna get everybody, you know, we, we don't need to do this cuz they've got a handle on it. No. If there's one thing we've learned about Merrick Garland's, doj, it's that you kind of have to tell them what to do. And plus you wanna be on record as saying you recommended this. You don't wanna end this committee with no criminal referrals whatsoever in just a binder of information you put out as your final report. Nobody's gonna care about the binder, they're gonna care about the criminal referrals. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IAGwaNJ9y4

Former White House lawyer Ty Cobb took advantage of a recent media appearance to absolutely dismantle Donald Trump's legal defense that his lawyers are peddling in the media. Cobb said that he'd never heard of an "aspirational" defense before, yet that is the terminology being used by Trump lawyer John Lauro to defend his client's actions to overturn the 2020 election results. Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins explains what's happening. Link - https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4143565-former-trump-white-house-lawyer-knocks-aspirational-defense-in-jan-6-case/ Check out our merch by visiting our store: https://www.buyrof.com/ Subscribe to our podcast: http://www.ROFPodcast.com Become a member today!: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYWIEbibRcZav6xMLo9qWWw/join Support us by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon, and help keep progressive media alive!: https://www.patreon.com/TheRingofFire Spread the word! LIKE and SHARE this video or leave a comment to help direct attention to the stories that matter. And SUBSCRIBE to stay connected with Ring of Fire's video content! Support Ring of Fire by subscribing to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/theringoffire Be sociable! Follow us on: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RingofFireRadio Twitter: https://twitter.com/RingofFireMedia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ringoffirenetwork/ *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos. One of Donald Trump's former lawyers, a man who actually happened to serve in his administration for a solid 10 months as a White House counsel, Ty Cobb came out this week in an interview with c n n and absolutely trashed Donald Trump's legal defense. Now, what's been happening even before Ty Cobb went out there in the media, is you had Trump's newest lawyer, John Laro, he's going out there making the rounds on the media. He did it all day Sunday. He actually included in his court filing on Monday how annoyed he was that he had to take time away from doing TV to respond to the judge's request. So he's loving the spotlight, but every time he goes out there, he says something really bad and stupid that actually makes Trump look even more guilty. Like the most recent thing he did all day Sunday was go out there in the media and say like, Hey, yeah, Trump did ask these people to overturn the election, but he did it in an aspirational way. That's his talking about it was aspirational, this ask. And that's the part that Ty Cobb absolutely ridiculed during his appearance with CNN's Aaron Burnett. Here's what Ty Cobb said, I'm not aware of the aspirational defense or the free speech defense to a gang leader saying to two of his subordinates, I need you to please rob a bank for me. And they do it. You know, that's aspirational, but it leads to a crime. And that's exactly what Trump did with Pence, and I love that T Cobb used that analogy because that is literally the same analogy I used. Like it is identical. That's how I explained it, because that is the best way to explain it. So good to know me and t Cobb are on the same page with this. But let me explain it to you this way. Uh, and, and again, I've said this before, but I'll say it again. So, if I'm sitting around with a group of friends and like, guys, we should rob a bank. Now, my friend's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, whatever. And then that's the end of it. That is not a conspiracy. That is not asking them to commit a crime. But if I say, guys, we should rob a bank. I've made phone calls to my friends who work at the bank, told them to shut off the security camera, shut off all the other, you know, the laser grids and all that, and they're gonna leave the front door unlocked. That is what I've told them to do. Now, guys, we should rob that bank, then it's a conspiracy, then it's a criminal act. And with regard to what Trump has been indicted for, they made the phone calls, they made the phone calls to separate states and said, we need you to throw out your results. Throw out your electors and select these people instead, we need you to turn your voting machines over to us. They made those calls. That was not aspirational. Those were asks. So if John Laro wants to go to court and make that argument For the love of God, do it. 'cause you're gonna lose and you're gonna lose faster than you ever thought was possible. We're talking about like a 30 minute Judge Judy episode quick. But if you actually want your tri uh, client to stay outta jail, maybe you ought to come with a couple more facts, because as Ty Cobb points out, there really is no such thing as an aspirational defense. And of course, your free speech defense is just flat out stupid. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtcu7__8kfM

During an interview for a right wing news publication in Florida, governor Ron DeSantis told a disgusting lie about the media somehow cheering on Hurricane Ian and hoping that it would hit Tampa to inflict as much damage as possible on the Republican-controlled state. This statement came the day before President Biden went down to Florida and wasn't public knowledge at the time of his visit. Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins discusses this disturbing claim and completely false claim by Desantis. Link - https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ron-desantis-media-hurricane-ian_n_633dca2fe4b04cf8f3697a3c Check out our merch by visiting our store: https://www.buyrof.com/ Subscribe to our podcast: http://www.ROFPodcast.com Become a member today!: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYWIEbibRcZav6xMLo9qWWw/join Support us by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon, and help keep progressive media alive!: https://www.patreon.com/TheRingofFire Spread the word! LIKE and SHARE this video or leave a comment to help direct attention to the stories that matter. And SUBSCRIBE to stay connected with Ring of Fire's video content! Support Ring of Fire by subscribing to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/theringoffire Be sociable! Follow us on: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RingofFireRadio Twitter: https://twitter.com/RingofFireMedia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ringoffirenetwork/ *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos. On Tuesday of this week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis decided to give an interview to a actual capital Rioter, who happens to be a writer for a, a outlet called Florida's voice. He's actually editor of Florida's voice. DeSantis gives this guy an interview where he goes into this absolutely insane conspiracy theory about the media somehow cheering on the recent hurricane, Hurricane Ian that came through Florida. Listen to what Desant said. You have national regime media that wanted to see Tampa hit by the storm because they thought that would be worse for Florida. I mean, uh, that's how these people think. I, I mean, they don't care about the people of the state. They don't care about the people of this community. They want to use storms and destruction from storms as a way to advance their agenda. And they don't care what destruction is in their wake. They don't care about the lives here. If they can use it to pursue their political agenda, they will do. It. Sounds like you're the one trying to pursue a political agenda with your insane and completely false conspiracy theory about what the media did in the lead up to Hurricane Ian. The i I, I mean, here's the thing. Here's what drives me crazy about these idiotic Republican conspiracy theories. People watched the media before the hurricane made landfall. During the hurricane making landfall. We all saw what happened. And not one time on one single network did one single person say, Whohoo, Boy, I hope it hits Tampa. That didn't happen. And we know that because we saw it with our own eyes. But the santis, much like his claim earlier this week that no, we didn't tell people to stop working even though it was literally on video, them telling people to stop working so he could do his photo op in his pretty little boots. Now he's telling us that the things we didn't see actually did happen. So one point of the week he tells us what we did see didn't happen, and now what we didn't see did happen. It's kind of hard to keep track of all the insanity coming out of this idiot's mouth. Oh, and by the way, reporters did reach out to his office and say, Hey, you made some pretty stupid claims here. Could you tell us what political agenda this is that the media was trying to further? They didn't respond. Of course they didn't because it's not true. And for the record, what political agenda would that be? Like? What political agenda benefits from a hurricane hitting the liberal parts of Florida? Because see, that's what DeSantis left out, right? Most of the areas where the extreme damage happened happened to be the liberal areas. So if they're using it to pursue a political agenda, wouldn't that go against the political agenda that you said they were pursuing? And this is the great Thing about these Republican conspiracy theories. Once you even start to picket it a little bit, they completely fall apart because this is stupid. People telling, even stupider people how to think and feel about certain situations that we all know didn't happen, but they'll swear up and down that it did. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW_3wlNnBtA