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DISINFO RUSSIA PUTIN

WACKO ON UKRAINE BIO-LABS

2X DIFF ANNO?

https://www.mediamatters.org/russias-invasion-ukraine/dan-ball-leads-oans-unhinged-coverage-russian-invasion-ukraine

no lnx many vids

Dan Ball leads OAN’s unhinged coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

The OAN host pushes a Russian government conspiracy theory about “biolabs” and believes that Hunter Biden has something to do with the invasion

WRITTEN BY BOBBY LEWIS

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM BEATRICE MOUNT & EMMA MAE WEBER

PUBLISHED03/31/22

One America News Network’s Dan Ball is covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine with a scattershot of conspiracy theories, both dredging up old claims and repeating new ones from the Russian government.

In early February, Ball told OAN viewers that President Joe Biden might encourage the crisis in Ukraine to benefit himself. Once Russia invaded, Ball began claiming that Hunter Biden and the Ukrainian gas company Burisma may have something to do with the war, that the Russian military is targeting U.S.-European Union bioweapons plants in Ukraine, and even that theRussian attack on Mariupol hospital may have been a false flag by Ukraine.

There is no evidence that any of this is true, but Ball stands behind the absurd propaganda on his show, assuring his viewers on March 9: “What we are reporting is correct. This was not a conspiracy theory. We are not pro-Russia, so don’t go there.”

This commentary is a sad reflection of Ball and OAN’s obsession with what the host regularly calls the “Biden crime family.” The false allegations against Hunter Biden date back years and were the inspiration for former President Donald Trump’s extortion scheme against Ukraine, resulting in his first impeachment. Ball is undeterred by these basic facts, however, and now going to any length to falsely implicate Biden -- and by extension, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky -- in provoking the horrors of Vladimir Putin’s war.

Ball says that “something does not pass the smell test” in the official story of Russia’s invasion

Five days into the Russian invasion, Ball told his audience, “We really need to ask ourselves, are we getting the whole story,” because several heroic stories of Ukrainian resistance had turned out to be false. Asserting that “the Biden regime” wanted to “wag the dog,”Ball suggested “positive war propaganda” was being used to divert American attention from “the invasion on our southern border” and “the COVID scam,” telling his audience it could even have something to do with “the whole Hunter and Joe Biden connection with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, and of course the Russia collusion hoax.”

Video From the February 28, 2022, edition of OAN's Real America with Dan Ball

Days later, Ball insisted on March 3 that “something does not pass the smell test” because Biden “immediately” paused new oil and gas leases in the U.S. as the Russian invasion began. In reality, the timing is coincidence; as CNBC reports, “the Biden administration is delaying decisions on new oil and gas leases and permits after a Louisiana federal judge blocked officials from using higher cost estimates of climate change.”

“Something stinks here,” Ball asserted, because “this can’t just be Putin and Russia going, ‘I want a land grab,’” since “we know Ukraine’s been corrupt for a long time,” and pointed again to “the Hunter Biden connection with Burisma.”

Weeks into the war, Ball continued to suspect that something was amiss about the official story, questioning if President Biden is “the one actually calling the shots” and “how much of this is acting” from Zelensky, a former actor whom Ball said was “install[ed]” by the U.S., “trying to push us to get us into this war.” “Obviously, Biden is compromised. We’re in the middle of a war that we might get into with our troops, and so shouldn’t all Americans be concerned that the guy making and calling the shots is compromised?”

Eventually, with America “on the brink of getting involved in a war with Russia,” Ball warned that Biden is too mentally unreliable and called on Democrats and Republicans to use the 25th Amendment to “remove [Biden], remove Harris, remove the entire administration before it’s too late.”

Ball suggests Hunter Biden and American bioweapons have something to do with the invasion

By February 28, Ball became focused on the idea that because “we know there’s so much involvement [in Ukraine] with this president, his son, Burisma, this oil and gas in Ukraine, plus Russia, the pipeline,” and “billions if not trillions of dollars involved,” that it all must have something to do with the war.

The Biden family was “in bed with Ukraine” and “now we have a war right in front of us,” Ball told a concurring guest, retired Army officer Darin Gaub, who called Ukraine “the bank” of the Clinton Foundation and other Democrats during his March 3 show. 

Ball eventually began asking members of Congress what President Biden’s son has to do with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In a March 2 interview with Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), Ball said that “the Hunter laptop” and “the tie to Burisma” suggested that “there’s more to play than just the gas and oil here. I want to know what the hell is really going on.”

“I mean, all the connections that came out tying the Biden family to Ukraine before he took office, now all of a sudden Russia attacks Ukraine, even though they didn’t while Trump was in office,” Ball said. “What’s at play here? It’s deeper – There’s deeper state stuff here, Debbie, don’t you think?”

Video From the March 2, 2022, edition of OAN's Real America with Dan Ball

After Lesko mostly evaded Ball’s question to instead complain about the Trump impeachments, Ball mentioned “rumors that America’s had biolaboratories set up in Ukraine since ‘14, when we installed the last clown in there,” a topic which became a focal point for Ball’s conspiracy theorizing.

That same day, Ball claimed that in addition to “Hunter’s laptop tying Mr. Biden to Burisma,” there are “questions about Zelensky’s leadership and how he came to power,” as well as “questions about biolabs being set up in that country by America and other corporation, we’re talking biotech-type weaponry.”

Days later, on March 7, Ball asked Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) about “three or four possible biochemical weapons plants” in Ukraine built by the U.S. and EU.Ball told Biggs, who also evaded the question, that “Putin would have an actual gripe” to justify targeting these weapons. 

Ball even took an unearned victory lap on March 9, claiming his biolabs conspiracy theory had been “proven correct” by a “smoking gun” from the Russian foreign affairs ministry, which claimed to have found U.S. “biological weapons plants” in Ukraine. Not only that, Ball preened, but “a Biden regime minion” -- Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland -- had openly discussed the labs in the Senate during a recent hearing.  RUBIO QUESTIONED

“The headline once again proves that things that we report here on OAN and on this program, Real America, are not conspiracy theories like the left claims,” Ball complained. He later added, “What we are reporting is correct. This was not a conspiracy theory. We are not pro-Russia, so don’t go there.”

Video From the March 9, 2022, edition of OAN's Real America with Dan Ball

NBC News would later report that these “biolabs” claims are essentially Russian government propaganda filtered through American right-wing media outlets like OAN. The only American-supported “biolabs” in Ukraine, including the ones Nuland discussed before the Senate, are research facilities -- that do not produce weapons --  which are part of a public 2005 deal between the two countries. 

Nonetheless, Ball has concluded that “obviously, Biden is compromised” by his son, and Ball continued to tout “biolabs” as a potential cause for Russia’s invasion.

Ball suggests that horrific Russian attacks on Mariupol may have been false flags

Part of Ball’s narrative of the Russian war is that the Ukrainian government led by President Zelensky is deeply corrupt. And when the Russian military bombed a maternity hospital during its siege of Mariupol, Ball professed that he’s “not saying somebody staged this to make things look worse,” but he also implied that “special operatives” and “undercover forces” who “do Zelensky’s bidding” may have been involved in the bombing, saying that Russia’s denials were credible since “they haven’t denied … hitting other stuff,” which is not true.

Video From the March 9, 2022, edition of OAN's Real America with Dan Ball

A week later, Ukrainian officials reported that a Russian airstrike destroyed a theater in Mariupol, with hundreds of civilians hiding inside and the word “children” written on the ground outside. On his March 17 show, Ball delivered a winding rant against the American, Ukrainian, and Russian governments, as well as the media trying to “push us into this war and accuse networks like OAN of pushing pro-Putin and pro-Russian propaganda.” Ball then briefly reported on the theater airstrike, and stressed that the story is just “what we’re told.Not saying it’s not true. Just asking the question.”

Ball discovers some consequences of Ukraine conspiracy theories

Despite calling the pre-invasion warnings “a pageant,” suggesting the Mariupol hospital attack was a false flag, and sharing Russian “biolabs” propaganda, Ball has grown tired of conspiracy theories that call the entire war fake.

Above a chyron that questioned whether we are “getting the entire story about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Ball again stressed “the Biden crime family and its connections to Ukraine and Russia” -- but told viewers, with a hint of frustration, that the war is “undeniable … and I say this because I see so many online stories of people saying this is all false, it’s all made up.”

“Make no mistake: There is a war going on, folks, and innocent civilians are being harmed and killed,” the OAN host said. “That is a fact, and that’s a tragedy. But while all that is going on,what else is going on? Not just with this conflict, but what aren’t we paying attention to globally – and more importantly, here at home. That’s what we as patriots need to stay focused on.” 

Video From the March 15, 2022, edition of OAN's Real America with Dan Ball

Even while denouncing actual lies about the Russian invasion, Ball could not resist the urge to indulge in deranged falsehoods.

“Most times, there’s nothing as such called a conspiracy theory,” Ball said. “They’re just coverups waiting for the truth to come out.” But the conspiracy theories he presents to OAN viewers are just as false as the conspiracy theories he denies. 

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oann tag: https://www.mediamatters.org/one-america-news-network

ball does not have one yet 4 22

random grab

One America News Network

Right-wing cable channel founded in 2013

OANN/OAN is a right-wing and pro-Trump outlet that is often called on by Trump administration officials at White House briefings and public events. Its hosts often use incendiary rhetoric and sometimes push far-right conspiracy theories.

random grab

OAN host Dan Ball says “There is a war going on right now” between Americans and the IRS

08/12/22

OAN host Dan Ball on Mar-a-Lago search: “Seems like a set up and plant job to me”

08/12/22

OAN guest encourages members of Congress to destroy January 6 evidence

08/11/22

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Kari Lake says Voice of America will push OAN content abroad. This is how network personalities discussed foreign policy since Trump took office.

Written by Jane Lee, Helena Hind & Isabella Corrao

Published 05/16/25

Trump adviser Kari Lake has announced that international broadcasting network Voice of America will include content from One America News Network, a pro-Trump propaganda network.

Since Donald Trump's inauguration, OAN personalities have pushed bizarre and inflammatory foreign policy commentary, including referring to Canada as “our vassal state,” calling Greenland ”the new Africa,” and pushing for a revival of “manifest destiny.” They’ve also run cover for Trump over his planned acceptance of a luxury jet from Qatar.

The Trump administration wants to feed content from OAN to Voice of America — after canceling contracts with existing wire services

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One America News is wading deeper into the authoritarian waters of white Christian nationalism, pushing nationalist, racist, homophobic, and sexist views that align with the idea of America as a white, Christian-led country. 

After months of pushing ideologically similar talking points, the network started explicitly backing white Christian nationalism in the summer of 2022 when host Addison Smith said he wears the label Christian nationalist “as a badge of honor.” As OAN was booted from DirectTV, Frontier, and Verizon, OAN endorsed white Christian nationalism on-air to the small pool of viewers who remained and began to fearmonger about the supposed persecution of self-identified Christian nationalists.

What is white Christian nationalism? 

White Christian nationalism is based on the false belief that America was intended to be a Christian nation led by white people. At times, defenders of that vision have used violence to advance their desire for an ethnostate, as seen recently in the January 6 insurrection, according to experts in white Christian nationalism such as journalist Katherine Stewart. 

Today the trappings of white Christian nationalism can be seen in aspects of Trumpism: The ideology’s framework of the “promised land” assured Christian colonizers that they had a right to the land they were taking because they were chosen by God to carry out this mission, which mirrors Trump’s “take back the country” slogan.

Not only is white Christian nationalism a bigoted and dangerous perspective, but it is also vastly unpopular. Only 15% of Americans believe that America should officially be declared a Christian nation. While OAN’s viewership continued to shrink over the course of 2022, the network exposed its most loyal viewers to a dangerous fringe ideology.

OAN hosts pushed components of white Christian nationalism

The network’s three prime-time hosts have all contributed to the introduction of white Christian nationalism. 

Host Dan Ball has a history of showing his authoritarian leanings on-air, along with using dehumanizing rhetoric toward immigrants, women, and LGBTQ people. Ball believes strongly that God should be the center of society, calling for the country to “get back to the principles that God laid out.” One time he suggested Border Patrol “drag [immigrants] by their hair,” and he has a history of referring to trans people with the wrong pronouns or with slurs. The ostracization and targeting of marginalized groups is key in white Christian nationalism, like as seen in the great replacement theory, an inspiration for the racist Buffalo, New York, massacre. 

Host Kara McKinney often talks about her religious beliefs, leading her to push the anti-abortion agenda to new lengths, even going as far as supporting the banning of IVF: “Here on this show we take the concept of protecting human life from conception to natural death very seriously.” Once, McKinney used a picture of a Nazi book burning to endorse banning LGBTQ books in public schools. In a segment attacking green card workers, McKinney agreed with a guest that “Americans worship God; they don’t worship GDP,” insinuating we should have fewer immigrant workers. [vid]

and Addison Smith, who declared in 2021 that he was a proud Christian nationalist, was brought on as the host of In Focus in May, signifying a shift in the network’s tone on white Christian nationalism.

OAN endorsed Christian nationalism directly 

In July, Smith said he wears being called a Christian nationalist as a “badge of honor,” saying it’s something that was widely more accepted “in the good old days.” He also defended Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson, downplaying his call to “make disciples of all the nations,” and  insinuated that there is nothing wrong with wanting to see “not only America” but “the world writ large turn and bend the knee to Christ.” 

Days later, Smith issued a call to action, claiming it was “high time we reclaim the culture and the political power and restore our country to what it once was, a Christian nation.” His reasoning was that “religion and politics have always been inseparably bound in America,” ignoring the separation of church and state. 

In September, Smith asked William Wolfe, a former senior Trump administration official, why people think Christian nationalism is a “recipe for fascism,” arguing that it’s actually “a recipe for morality.” Wolfe responded by downplaying the Holocaust and saying the reason is because “they overreacted to things like World War II." [vid]

smith made clear to his radicalized audience that the goal was to seize power, stating, “To everyone saying Christian nationalists want to seize power and take back our government, yeah, you're absolutely right. Because the elitist hacks that are in our government right now don't own the government. God owns our government.”

Claiming the oppressor is actually oppressed

In its defense of white Christian nationalism, OAN has also pushed the false narrative that it is the racist nationalists who are under attack while continuing to attack marginalized groups. In November, Smith flipped the script on oppression, saying, “We Christian nationalists are a heavily persecuted bunch these days.” This political tactic helps to divert attention from the real oppression that white Christian nationalists are advocating while solidifying a group mentality around the ideology itself .[vid]

losing viewers as cable networks dropped the network in 2022 didn’t slow OAN’s radicalization. In 2023, carriers must reflect on whether this is the content they would like to platform in the new year. While OAN continues to produce racist and authoritarian content, the platforms that carry it are perpetuating the slow walk of white Christian nationalism into our political discourse. 

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https://timesofsandiego.com/politics/2022/12/22/final-jan-6-report-cites-san-diegos-oan-peter-navarro-and-sdsus-christina-bobb/

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Final Jan. 6 Report Cites San Diego’s OAN, Peter Navarro and SDSU’s Christina Bobb

Ken Stone

Christina Bobb appears on Dan Ball’s show recently on One America News. Image via OAN.

San Diego’s One America News and ex-San Diego politico Peter Navarro are noted in the final report of the congressional panel probing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Final report of Jan. 6 committee (PDF)

The 845-page report, released Thursday night, also cites testimony and emails mentioning Donald Trump lawyer Christina Bobb, a San Diego State University graduate.

Bobb produced materials for the House select committee.* But Navarro, the Trump aide who repeatedly failed in runs for San Diego office, refused to cooperate with the select committee and was indicted for contempt of Congress.

In end notes, the Jan. 6 committee said it interviewed Bobb on April 21 — but her deposition wasn’t among those released this week.

Bobb, a former OAN correspondent facing civil suits over promoting stolen-election lies, spoke Monday on “Real America with Dan Ball.”

Asked about the four criminal referrals — whichBall called “insane charges”— Bobb said they were all about preventing Trump from running in 2024 “because he’s not approved by the political elite. He doesn’t play by their rules. And he wants to return power back to the American people.”

“This is a show trial,” she said. “It’s trying to stir people up to believe that Donald Trump is somehow bad.”

She said Trump has a “very solid criminal defense team” in place.

“This has nothing to do with democracy or January 6th,” she said. “They tried this with the Impeachment Hoax 1 and the Impeachment Hoax 2 and the Russian Collusion Hoax. What hoax number are we on now?”

Click to see OAN segment featuring Christina Bobb.

The report said that less than two weeks after the election, President Trump pushed “Team Normal” aside because its members didn’t tell him what he wanted to hear.

“In their place, Trump promoted Rudy Giuliani and his associates — men and women who spread baseless and extreme claims of election fraud,” including Bobb, the report said.

But Bobb couldn’t point to any evidence of wrongdoing by Dominion Voting Systems — which is suing OAN, Fox News and others about airing lies about it “switching votes” to Joe Biden, the report said.

Arizona’s vote was a source of contention as well.

Trump retweeted a post by campaign lawyer Bobb that accused Arizona House Speaker Russell “Rusty” Bowers of “intentionally misleading the people of Arizona.”

San Diego-based OAN was cited as a conduit of stolen-election lies.

On Nov. 19, 2020, Trump tweeted and retweeted a link to a segment on OAN titled, “Dominion-izing the Vote.”

“The segment claimed that Dominion had switched votes from Trump to Biden. OAN featured a supposed cyber expert, Ron Watkins, a key figure in the QAnon conspiracy movement,” the report said.

“On his own Twitter account, Watkins celebrated and thanked his supporters just minutes after President Trump tweeted the clip, and President Trump went on to share the clip again several times in the days that followed.”

OAN executives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Though Navarro refused to cooperate with the committee, he referenced Steve Bannon’s “Green Bay Sweep” bid to overturn the election in his book “In Trump Time: A Journal of America’s Plague Year.”

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“Although he doesn’t fully explain in his book … how Bannon’s sweep was intended to work, Navarro writes that Vice President Pence was envisioned as the ‘quarterback’ who would “assert his constitutional power” to delay certification of the electoral vote Jan. 6, the report notes.

“Navarro writes that his own role was to ‘carefully document the fraud and myriad election irregularities,’ while Bannon’s “role was to figure out how to use this information — what he called the ‘receipts.’”

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The report says Navarro’s account helped explain why Trump and his loyalists became so fixated on Pence.

“They saw Vice President Pence as their last hope for keeping President Trump in office,” the report says. “Navarro writes of Pence’s supposed ‘betrayal.’ In a telling sentence, Navarro likens Vice President Pence to Brutus, a Roman politician and the most famous assassin of Julius Caesar.”

Navarro wrote in his book:

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On this cold, momentous day, I shiver as I think to myself, “January 6 will be either Mike Pence’s finest hour or the traitorous ‘Et tu, Brute?’ end of both his and Donald Trump’s political careers.

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The committee report outlines its case that Trump should face criminal charges of inciting the deadly riot.

The House of Representatives Select Committee also made public the transcripts of a number of its interviews and witness testimonies earlier on Thursday and on Wednesday.

The report is based on nearly 1,200 interviews over 18 months and hundreds of thousands of documents, as well as the rulings of more than 60 federal and state courts.

The report lists 17 specific findings, discusses the legal implications of actions by Trump and some of his associates and includes criminal referrals to the Justice Department of Trump and other individuals, according to an executive summary released earlier this week. It report also lists legislative recommendations to help avert another such attack.

OAN segment on House committee’s criminal referrals shows book by Christina Bobb. Image via OAN

On Monday, the committee asked federal prosecutors to charge the Republican former president with four crimes, including obstruction and insurrection, for what they said were efforts to overturn results of the November 2020 election and sparking the attack on the seat of government.

“Rather than honor his constitutional obligation to ‘take care that the laws be faithfully executed,’ President Trump instead plotted to overturn the election outcome,” the House panel had said earlier in a 160-page summary of its report.

In comments posted on his Truth Social network after the final report’s release, Trump called it “highly partisan” and a “witch hunt”. He said it failed to “study the reason for the (Jan. 6) protest, election fraud.”

The request by the Democratic-led panel to the Justice Department does not compel federal prosecutors to act, but marked the first time in history that Congress had referred a former president for criminal prosecution. Trump announced in November that he would run for president again.

Among the transcripts released on Wednesday and Thursday was one that showed a former lawyer for ex-White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson told her to “downplay” her knowledge of events leading to the Capitol riot, telling her “the less you remember, the better.”

Attorney Stefan Passantino advised Hutchinson in preparing for a February deposition before the panel to say that she could not recall certain events, she told the committee in September, according to the transcript of her testimony.

Trump gave a fiery speech to his supporters near the White House the morning of Jan. 6, and publicly chastised Pence for not going along with his plan to reject ballots cast for Democrat Joe Biden.

The former president then waited hours to make a public statement as thousands of his supporters raged through the Capitol, assaulting police and threatening to hang Pence.

The 2020 election results were being certified by Pence and lawmakers when the Capitol was attacked after weeks of false claims by Trump that he had won that election.

Updated at 10:17 a.m. Dec. 23, 2022

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It took a few weeks, but One America News Network is finally settled into a predictable reaction to the 2022 midterms: claiming more Democratic fraud. In OAN’s view, no state had it worse than Arizona, a state the network relentlessly targeted with election misinformation, and where voters rejected numerous Republican nominees favored by OAN.

In the immediate wake of the election, OAN figures appeared to urge caution despite voters reporting numerous difficulties on election day; continuing to support GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake but stopping short of declaring fraud. But after the race was called, the floodgates opened for OAN to once again wail about “the biggest experiment in election fraud ever perpetrated on the American public.”

Unlike the 2020 election, some OAN figures are exploring novel solutions to losing elections this time around, like mail-in voting and ballot collecting (also known as “harvesting,”) two concepts that expand voting access, but which OAN alleges allow Democrats to steal elections. The inherent incongruity suggests that OAN is not serious about growing democracy, but only in sniveling resentfully, still captured by a lie partly of its own making.

At first, OAN exercised some caution in its coverage of Arizona’s gubernatorial race, possibly not wanting to sow too much doubt in case the results led to Lake’s projected victory. The day after the election, In Focus host Addison Smith acknowledged Arizona voters’ complaints of long lines and bureaucratic confusion, but said that he’s “not blaming losses from Republicans on a lack of election integrity this time around. You know, all things considered -- we’ll see what happens in Arizona -- but all things considered, I think the races the Democrats won were won pretty fair and square, according to the evidence in front of us.”[vid]

as results began to suggest that Democratic candidate Katie Hobbs might win, hints of fraud crept into OAN’s coverage. Within a week of Smith’s apparent expression of trust in elections, In Focus hosted right-wing YouTuber Drew Berquist, who complained that “whether it’s cameras going down, or a pipe leak, or a this, or the machines, whatever the case might be,” there is always a problem on election day that “gives them ample time to do stuff, and then voila -- the lights come on, the cameras come back on, and we’ve lost the race.”

On November 14, major news networks projected Hobbs’ victory, the dam broke, and OAN began declaring fraud. Real America host Dan Ball said that he’s not calling the race (OAN doesn’t have a decision desk) until “we can confirm every single vote was a legitimate vote and not harvested from, oh I don’t know, people that aren’t registered in Arizona? Dead people? You know, the stuff that always happens in every election, but shhh, we don't talk about it.” 

Lake “has not conceded” to “supposed Governor-elect'' Hobbs, Ball later said, “and I don’t think she should,” citing voters’ election day complaints as well as the razor-thin margin. “But that doesn’t matter” to the media, Ball lamented while discussing another close race, “because they’ve got to call [the election for] the Democrat. That’s what they do. That’s just how it goes.”

On November 17, OAN correspondent Pearson Sharp made the calls explicit; in his style reminiscent of a man in a truck, Sharp unequivocally declared that “the Democrats once again stole another election,” and Democratic victors like Arizona Governor-elect Hobbs “just carried out the biggest experiment in voter fraud ever perpetrated on the American public.” Sharp’s segment included video of random Arizonans using ballot drop boxes as he warned of “clearly illegal voting fraud.” (2000 Mules director Dinesh D’Souza is currently being sued for defamation over similar conduct.)

Echoing familiar themes to a far-right audience, Sharp pontificated that “the commiecrats used the pandemic as a backdoor to legalize all kinds of illegal voting practices, and now they can drag out an election for weeks, while they quietly fill in the votes wherever they need them.”[vid]

on November 19, soon after Sharp’s broadside, Attorney General Mark Brnovich -- a 2020 election denier and frequent OAN guest -- issued a letter demanding answers on reported voting issues from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. According to The Washington Post, the letter contains “no findings that would call the outcome into question,” but it did further fuel OAN’s newly revived desire to cry fraud.

OAN reporter Daniel Baldwin aired a segment featuring interview footage with Christina Bobb, the Trumpworld attorney who previously led OAN’s “election integrity” coverage, while also helping the Trump campaign’s fake elector scheme. On OAN, Bobb played up Brnovich’s letter as proof that Brnovich saw a “potential crime there, whether it was intentional conduct or criminal negligence, whatever it is … it was enough to actually publish the letter.” 

In a different Baldwin interview, Arizona State Sen. Wendy Rogers called for a “new election for 2022 for Maricopa County, there are no two ways about it.” Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward told Baldwin that “once again” Maricopa County “will be certifying an uncertifiable election. They did it in 2020, I think they plan to do it in 2022.” Ward also promised that “we are going through every single legal channel that is available and we are pushing forward to represent we, the people.”

Fittingly, Real America’s Ballinjected a touch of inappropriate self-victimization to the frenzy. Ball compared election day issues in Arizona to anti-Black segregation using a clip from Free State of Jones, a 2016 movie starring Matthew McConaughey as a Confederate deserter who leads a rebellion against Confederate Mississippi -- in other words, fighting Democrats who would not allow Republicans to vote.

“Now this all happened hundreds of years ago, right?” Ball cheekily asked, “There’s no way that something like that could still happen today,” as though an unprecedented flood of election-day voting shares any similarities to Jim Crow.

[vid]

Interestingly, some OAN figures -- not all -- have mentioned a degree of openness to mail-in voting, thinking that Republicans could close future vote gaps. However, even this comes not from a place of humility or learning, but vengeance and paranoia. As Smith put it on November 30, either “we make ballot harvesting and mass mail-in voting illegal across-the-board … or we get so good at it ourselves that Democrats want to make it illegal.”

It was only a matter of time before OAN again reacted to a Republican defeat with allegations of election fraud: the network built its present identity out of such claims. OAN would have viewers believe that, in the same election where Democrats mastered the art of election theft, they also lost control of the House of Representatives, and therefore President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda. But perhaps allowing Republicans to block Democratic power for two years is also part of the Democrats’ plan to seize power.

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One America News has been dropped by yet another carrier. As of November 1, the network is no longer available on Frontier.

On November 2, OAN host Dan Ball responded to a piece of viewer mail about the news by lashing out at Frontier and other providers that have also recently dropped the network.

“Folks, yes, Frontier dropped us on November 1. So that adds up, the tally now this year, from DirecTV, Verizon, to Frontier," Ball said. "Three major carriers censoring One America News. You three know where you can stick it.”

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mma 1022 no ball?

As Ukraine successfully pushes back invading forces, OAN is staying faithful to the Russian state propaganda edifice.

OAN is spoon-feeding its viewers Kremlin-backed war propaganda and reports from the state-owned network Ruptly. Recently, the far-right network portrayed the sham referendum and illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories as legitimate; accused the U.S. and Ukraine, without evidence, of sabotaging the Nord Stream gas pipeline and bombing Crimea’s Kerch bridge; aired antisemitic conspiracy theories about Western globalists trying to control Russia; and claimed Ukraine is dangerously escalating the war simply by defending its territory.

This pattern of pro-Russia coverage follows OAN’s notable history of acting as a mouthpiece for Russian propaganda. Both a former correspondent and a more recent hire of OAN's previously worked for Russian state-owned media outlets. After the invasion of Ukraine, OAN hosts promoted Kremlin-sponsored conspiracy theories about Western “biolabs” and Ukraine bombing its own hospitals while guests claimed that “Ukraine is not a real country” and that it’s just “a giant money-pot laundering scheme for the elites.”

The network’s more recent coverage is part of a right-wing effort to defend Russian President Vladimir Putin by convincing viewers Russia’s invasion is not actually an invasion:

OAN coverage relies on Russian state-owned outlet Ruptly

OAN has relied on reporting and footage from Russian state-owned network Ruptly on numerous occasions. Although Ruptly maintains that it is an independent organization and merely a sister agency of now-defunct Russia Today, or RT,Ruptly and its subsidiaries lack an independent news charter and have a history of publishing manipulated reports and sourcing from journalists backed by Russia’s state security agency. The U.K. recently sanctioned Ruptly’s founding station, Tv-Novosti, for pushing Russian state propaganda.

OAN defended Russia’s illegal referendums and subsequent annexation of Ukrainian regions as legitimate

Late last month, Russia organized sham referendums in Ukraine’s occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions in order to annex them and claim that the invaded regions are now legally Russian territory. OAN privileged the Kremlin narrative that these elections were free and legal over widespread reporting andtestimony from residents of the occupied territory revealing a hastily organized election devoid of ballot secrecy and marred by the threat of violence — including video of poll workers flanked by armed soldiers going door to door collecting votes.

Some of OAN’s so-called news reports pushed claims that countries that are refusing to recognize the illegal referendums and annexation of an anti-Russia bias. This narrative ignores international condemnation of Russia’s ongoing invasion and annexation of Ukraine and promotes Putin’s increasingly antagonistic framework that this invasion is part of Russia’s existential battle against the West.

OAN blamed the West for the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage and Kerch bridge explosion without evidence

Three separate ruptures in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines sparked an international blame game between Russia, Ukraine, and Ukrainian allies, including the United States. Online conspiracy theorists and right-wing outlets like OAN parroted the Russian narrative and pointed fingers at the United States and its allies with no evidence. Some programming even used the allegations to validate Putin’s threats of nuclear war.

OAN’s reaction to an explosion that damaged the Kerch bridge, a strategic connection between the Crimean Peninsula and Russia’s mainland, followed a similar pattern. The network advanced a Kremlin allegation that Ukraine was behind the explosion without evidence, which Putin used to justify airstrikes across Ukraine. OAN unquestioningly promoted Putin’s claim as fact.

OAN absolved Russia of blame for the war, faulting “globalists” instead  

OAN’s quest to absolve Russia and justify its invasion has in some cases devolved into antisemitic conspiracy theories. Network hosts pushed claims that “globalists” provoked Russia and plunged the world into Armageddon in order to seize power and targeted the right’s favorite Jewish boogeyman, Holocaust survivor and pro-democracy philanthropist George Soros.Putin has referenced the conspiracy theory in speeches meant to court right-wing populists, justify the invasion, and reduce support for Ukraine. OAN’s coverage follows suit. [oct 13 vid]

correspondent Pearson Sharp: “This war was manufactured from the beginning by the globalists and the tyrants in Washington and designed specifically to cripple our economy and plunge the world into a massive depression, which would help centralize the globalists’ power.”Sharp used out-of-context clips from the “globalist puppet master himself, George Soros,” to trying to prove that “they are trying to provoke Russia into starting Armageddon,” even though “none of this has anything to do with Russia invading Ukraine.” One America News, *One America News*, [10/13/22]

OAN promoted Russian allegations of Ukrainian aggression, justifying Russia’s violent invasion

OAN uncritically advanced Russian propaganda demonizing Ukrainian attempts to take backillegally seized territories while depicting Putin as defending Russian lands and their inhabitants against Ukraine. Though Putin has issued nuclear threats, escalated global tensions, and mythologized Russia’s own history of state-based repression, OAN falsely claimed Ukraine is a totalitarian state run by a dangerous warmonger, President Volodymyr Zelensky, dead-set on dragging the world into nuclear Armageddon.

This coverage serves no purpose aside from helping Putin turn his unpopular military incursion into a defensive war and poisoning support for Ukraine by muddying legitimate criticism about reckless military spending with Kremlin conspiracy theories.

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https://www.mediamatters.org/one-america-news-network**/ahead-midterms-oan-declares-fight-between-good-vs-evil-save-us-democrats

one America News Network is a known hub for extreme right-wing opinion, but the network has gone even further to fan the flames in recent weeks leading up to the midterm elections. OAN talent and guests have used increasingly apocalyptic rhetoric to describe the stakes of the country continuing under Democrats’ “progressive liberal woke agenda” to “tear down and destroy everything good about America.”

It is often a mix of “political correct woke” headlines or the simple existence of a Democratic-controlled Congress and White House that prompts an outburst of anger from OAN personalities directed at “true communism” and its “destruction of the greatest country this world has ever known.” For example, green energy policy is portrayed as a question of “whether or not America will be a sovereign nation.” Hospitals providing care to trans people are examples of the “evil in our midst” during “a spiritual battle.” And investigations of former President Donald Trump are part of “a long struggle” going back to those who “first settled this land.”

OAN’s overt partisanship and lack of journalistic standards are a perfect setup for the network to rhetorically increase the stakes of the midterm elections. The network has already shown a preference for candidates who deny the 2020 election, and expressed its hopes — if Republicans take control of Congress —  for punitive investigations of the right’s political enemies and legislative attacks on trans people. 

Taken together with dire warnings of national annihilation under Democratic rule, OAN’s coverage in the lead-up to midterms is arguing that “America First” candidates must win in November to pursue vindictive, extremist policies to save the country from the “woke agenda.”

Although life as we know it does face existential threats — perhaps most prominently from climate change — OAN saves its cataclysmic warnings for an America that remains under Democratic Party control after November.

//

OAN host blames the sexual revolution for “incel” mass shootings

10/19/22

OAN will repeatedly air the debunked 2000 Mules movie ahead of the midterms

10/11/22

OAN interview baselessly claims FBI planted child pornography on NXIVM sex cult leader Keith Raniere during investigation

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https://www.mediamatters.org/one-america-news-network/dan-ball-turned-his-local-school-board-meeting-stunt-oan-viewers-over

tampon machine

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https://www.mediamatters.org/**one-america-news-network**/oan-lara-logan-claims-migrants-are-part-globalist-plan-unified-government

mma 9 22

LARA LOGAN: We have in place an administration filled with open border ideologues who are implementing a globalist policy, that no one was given the option in this country to vote on, that bypasses the legislature and is completely in violation of the constitution. And what they're edging towards, and I know this from a source who was in meetings at the UN, and behind you know, closed doors, these are classified meetings and listened to these discussions of infiltrating 100 million people into the United States as the basis for forming a regional government instead of a national government. 

So, a government of Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. This is the strategy that's in place. And so things like the cartels were created as part of a push-pull strategy, where they would push people out of those countries because life would become unbearable, and pull them into the United States. It's about the destruction of this country. And, uh, and it's put in place step by step so that you don't really know what is happening. And so what is happening is, what some people have done now, a group of private citizens has funded a threat assessment of the national security threat on the southern border. Because the government is failing to do its job. And the, the basic premise is that you cannot begin to solve a problem that hasn't even been defined.

DAN BALL (Host):Wow, I mean you just threw a lot at us and I hope everybody absorbed that and understands what we're talking about. Because a lot of times we touch the surface on interviews of course we talk about the fentanyl deaths, we talk about the human trafficking and the rape, but we're not talking about the Great Reset, we're not talking about how they're changing the fabric of this nation and what they're attempting to do, by allowing these open boarders and what Laura just told us about blending Mexico, Canada, America, that is no longer American dominant. And then you heard my lead-up, Laura, about how are foes, China, Russia, see all this and they want the fall of the West.That's what everyone wants. No one wants America to be the strong country it's been, especially our foes.

LOGAN: And you know what though, Dan? It's interesting because this isn't just about the fall of America and the West. This is about the end of life as we have known it.

===

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9 22 mma

DAN BALL (HOST): So, when Joe's doing that, and the market's crashing in real time, and in my head, I'm thinking of that movie, I'm like, this is the clown world we're living in. This is the reality. But it's like a movie script. And that got me thinking a little further. Since so many Hollywood celebs have their heads up Democrats' derrières, I thought I'd pitch a movie idea to Hollywood because after watching Joe deliver that speech filled with lies while the market tanked, I think Tinsel Town should maybe remake that movie. Instead of Fun with Dick and Jane, here's my pitch. Are you ready? Fun with Joe and Hoe!How about that? What you think, Hollywood? Call me! Let's produce. I mean, Joe will have to work on his acting skills, and Kamala, well, it doesn't really matter if she can act or not. She'll just do whatever it takes to land the role, if you get my drift. 

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Featured

After DirecTV, what does OAN have left?

01/18/22 4:56 PM EST

Silhouettes of raised hands clutching ballots, with a warped OAN logo in the background

DirecTV to drop One America News following call from Media Matters

01/14/22 8:43 PM EST

After DirecTV dropped the channel, OAN host asked viewers to dig up dirt on AT&T's board chairman

01/18/22 4:34 PM EST

The Latest

A black, disintegrating OAN logo against a green background, with a line of black and blue DirecTV logos running through the OAN logo

OAN's last months on DirecTV were a train wreck

04/06/22 10:42 AM EDT

QAnon Ketanji Brown Jackson

OAN host: Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is “scum”

04/01/22 12:41 PM EDT

OAN host Dan Ball, and several OAN logos, superimposed over a purplish-blue map of Russia and eastern Europe, with Russia and Ukraine labeled.

Dan Ball leads OAN’s unhinged coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

03/31/22 10:39 AM EDT

Graphic of OAN and Fox News logos

OAN is circling the drain -- but Fox News has already embraced a lot of its extremism

03/30/22 11:57 AM EDT

OAN's Pearson Sharp spreads anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, claims vaccines cause death and alter your DNA

03/28/22 2:03 PM EDT

Natalie Harp OAN

Another OAN host left the network to work for Donald Trump

03/25/22 5:07 PM EDT

OAN's Kara McKinney compared “evil” surrogacy to “wife kidnapping”

03/22/22 2:45 PM EDT

Media Matters' 2021 guide to debunking right-wing claims about migrants and the border

Right-wing media are exploiting the Ukraine invasion to fearmonger about an “invasion” on the US southern border

03/21/22 12:05 PM EDT

RedState editor Brandon Morse smearing Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on OAN

Baseless OAN attack on Ketanji Brown Jackson echoes QAnon conspiracy theory

03/18/22 2:41 PM EDT

OAN host and Texas GOP legislator agree that the United States should consider invading and occupying northern Mexico

03/18/22 1:47 PM EDT

OAN calls Russian bombing of maternity ward in Mariupol, Ukraine a “false flag operation”

03/17/22

Cable providers beware: OAN’s new lawsuit against DirecTV is another example of its recklessness

03/14/22

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https://www.mediamatters.org/one-america-news-network/oans-latest-desperate-move-proves-verizon-should-drop-them-too

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mma 7 22

On July 12, One America News Network hosted Dr. Jason Dean, who denounced COVID-19 vaccines as “a bioweapon” and suggested Democrats are redeploying the “plandemic” because “they can’t afford to have a red wave” in the upcoming midterm elections.

Dean is a chiropractor and an ardent conspiracy theorist. He has claimed on his Twitter account that “all vaccines are literal bullshit” and that they are part of a genocidal depopulation plan by the New World Order. His preposterous beliefs don’t stop at vaccines or health care; Dean has also said that “9/11 was an inside job,” has seemingly entertained flat Earth conspiracy theories, and has proclaimed that the “#Reptilian agenda is going to be exposed in my lifetime.” (British author David Icke’s The Reptilian Agenda posits “that a reptilian extraterrestrial race has controlled the world for thousands of years.”)

Real America’s Dan Ball, who hosted Dean for the interview, prefaced his appearance with a nine-minute monologue about -- among many other things -- President Joe Biden’s “regime” extending a public health emergency to “boost pandemic response funding,” which he claimed will actually be used to “pay off municipalities, government agencies,” and “people who helped him cheat.” He also called COVID-19 a “vaccine that isn’t a vaccine.”

During the interview, Dean claimed to have “saved countless lives doing natural means for this whole, you know, virus,” adding, “And it is not a vaccine, it’s a bioweapon. Let’s just call it what it is.”

Dean also complained about people still wearing masks, claiming, “I’ve never put a mask on, and I’m a doctor, and I work with patients. Where’s the disconnect here? They’re programming the minds of Americans, and we need to change it.”

Ball shared Dean's website with the audience, saying, “Check him out. Great information. He’s out there spreading truth over the lies that’s being pushed by Big Pharma and this Biden regime." [vid?]

the chiropractor’s website hosts a plethora of nonsense, including a front page story by “Lizzy from Boston” about discovering her “3rd eye for the win” during her “Saturn Return.” It also features aggregated right-wing grievances like “LGBT Mob Targets Pizza and Cookies in Grooming Crusade” and “The War Against The Unvaxxed Won’t Be Forgotten.” On the site, Dean also falsely argues that the autoimmune disease psoriasis is actually caused by parasites.

Like other grifters in right-wing media, Dean also sells several homeopathic supplements. On a second website, he offers a “Children’s Parasite Protocol” that claims to treat “Allergies, Darkness under Eyes, Food Sensitivities, Ear Aches, Anal Itching, Digestive Issues and More,” for only $137. And on a third website, he sells an “Autism Protocol” to “Start Your Child's Journey on the Road to Health” for just $99. Both serum collections come with an offer to purchase a one-on-one consultation for an additional $59.

Dean also piles his Twitter account high with absurdly false foolishness, such as:

Explaining “mental health [is] #1 problem in America” because “parasites eat neurotransmitters.”

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https://www.mediamatters.org/russias-invasion-ukraine/dan-ball-leads-oans-unhinged-coverage-russian-invasion-ukraine

no lnx many vids

Dan Ball leads OAN’s unhinged coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

The OAN host pushes a Russian government conspiracy theory about “biolabs” and believes that Hunter Biden has something to do with the invasion

WRITTEN BY BOBBY LEWIS

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM BEATRICE MOUNT & EMMA MAE WEBER

PUBLISHED03/31/22

One America News Network’s Dan Ball is covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine with a scattershot of conspiracy theories, both dredging up old claims and repeating new ones from the Russian government.

In early February, Ball told OAN viewers that President Joe Biden might encourage the crisis in Ukraine to benefit himself. Once Russia invaded, Ball began claiming that Hunter Biden and the Ukrainian gas company Burisma may have something to do with the war, that the Russian military is targeting U.S.-European Union bioweapons plants in Ukraine, and even that theRussian attack on Mariupol hospital may have been a false flag by Ukraine.

There is no evidence that any of this is true, but Ball stands behind the absurd propaganda on his show, assuring his viewers on March 9: “What we are reporting is correct. This was not a conspiracy theory. We are not pro-Russia, so don’t go there.”

This commentary is a sad reflection of Ball and OAN’s obsession with what the host regularly calls the “Biden crime family.” The false allegations against Hunter Biden date back years and were the inspiration for former President Donald Trump’s extortion scheme against Ukraine, resulting in his first impeachment. Ball is undeterred by these basic facts, however, and now going to any length to falsely implicate Biden -- and by extension, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky -- in provoking the horrors of Vladimir Putin’s war.

Ball says that “something does not pass the smell test” in the official story of Russia’s invasion

Five days into the Russian invasion, Ball told his audience, “We really need to ask ourselves, are we getting the whole story,” because several heroic stories of Ukrainian resistance had turned out to be false. Asserting that “the Biden regime” wanted to “wag the dog,”Ball suggested “positive war propaganda” was being used to divert American attention from “the invasion on our southern border” and “the COVID scam,” telling his audience it could even have something to do with “the whole Hunter and Joe Biden connection with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, and of course the Russia collusion hoax.”

Video From the February 28, 2022, edition of OAN's Real America with Dan Ball

Days later, Ball insisted on March 3 that “something does not pass the smell test” because Biden “immediately” paused new oil and gas leases in the U.S. as the Russian invasion began. In reality, the timing is coincidence; as CNBC reports, “the Biden administration is delaying decisions on new oil and gas leases and permits after a Louisiana federal judge blocked officials from using higher cost estimates of climate change.”

“Something stinks here,” Ball asserted, because “this can’t just be Putin and Russia going, ‘I want a land grab,’” since “we know Ukraine’s been corrupt for a long time,” and pointed again to “the Hunter Biden connection with Burisma.”

Weeks into the war, Ball continued to suspect that something was amiss about the official story, questioning if President Biden is “the one actually calling the shots” and “how much of this is acting” from Zelensky, a former actor whom Ball said was “install[ed]” by the U.S., “trying to push us to get us into this war.” “Obviously, Biden is compromised. We’re in the middle of a war that we might get into with our troops, and so shouldn’t all Americans be concerned that the guy making and calling the shots is compromised?”

Eventually, with America “on the brink of getting involved in a war with Russia,” Ball warned that Biden is too mentally unreliable and called on Democrats and Republicans to use the 25th Amendment to “remove [Biden], remove Harris, remove the entire administration before it’s too late.”

Ball suggests Hunter Biden and American bioweapons have something to do with the invasion

By February 28, Ball became focused on the idea that because “we know there’s so much involvement [in Ukraine] with this president, his son, Burisma, this oil and gas in Ukraine, plus Russia, the pipeline,” and “billions if not trillions of dollars involved,” that it all must have something to do with the war.

The Biden family was “in bed with Ukraine” and “now we have a war right in front of us,” Ball told a concurring guest, retired Army officer Darin Gaub, who called Ukraine “the bank” of the Clinton Foundation and other Democrats during his March 3 show. 

Ball eventually began asking members of Congress what President Biden’s son has to do with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In a March 2 interview with Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), Ball said that “the Hunter laptop” and “the tie to Burisma” suggested that “there’s more to play than just the gas and oil here. I want to know what the hell is really going on.”

“I mean, all the connections that came out tying the Biden family to Ukraine before he took office, now all of a sudden Russia attacks Ukraine, even though they didn’t while Trump was in office,” Ball said. “What’s at play here? It’s deeper – There’s deeper state stuff here, Debbie, don’t you think?”

Video From the March 2, 2022, edition of OAN's Real America with Dan Ball

After Lesko mostly evaded Ball’s question to instead complain about the Trump impeachments, Ball mentioned “rumors that America’s had biolaboratories set up in Ukraine since ‘14, when we installed the last clown in there,” a topic which became a focal point for Ball’s conspiracy theorizing.

That same day, Ball claimed that in addition to “Hunter’s laptop tying Mr. Biden to Burisma,” there are “questions about Zelensky’s leadership and how he came to power,” as well as “questions about biolabs being set up in that country by America and other corporation, we’re talking biotech-type weaponry.”

Days later, on March 7, Ball asked Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) about “three or four possible biochemical weapons plants” in Ukraine built by the U.S. and EU.Ball told Biggs, who also evaded the question, that “Putin would have an actual gripe” to justify targeting these weapons. 

Ball even took an unearned victory lap on March 9, claiming his biolabs conspiracy theory had been “proven correct” by a “smoking gun” from the Russian foreign affairs ministry, which claimed to have found U.S. “biological weapons plants” in Ukraine. Not only that, Ball preened, but “a Biden regime minion” -- Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland -- had openly discussed the labs in the Senate during a recent hearing. 

“The headline once again proves that things that we report here on OAN and on this program, Real America, are not conspiracy theories like the left claims,” Ball complained. He later added, “What we are reporting is correct. This was not a conspiracy theory. We are not pro-Russia, so don’t go there.”

Video From the March 9, 2022, edition of OAN's Real America with Dan Ball

NBC News would later report that these “biolabs” claims are essentially Russian government propaganda filtered through American right-wing media outlets like OAN. The only American-supported “biolabs” in Ukraine, including the ones Nuland discussed before the Senate, are research facilities -- that do not produce weapons --  which are part of a public 2005 deal between the two countries. 

Nonetheless, Ball has concluded that “obviously, Biden is compromised” by his son, and Ball continued to tout “biolabs” as a potential cause for Russia’s invasion.

Ball suggests that horrific Russian attacks on Mariupol may have been false flags

Part of Ball’s narrative of the Russian war is that the Ukrainian government led by President Zelensky is deeply corrupt. And when the Russian military bombed a maternity hospital during its siege of Mariupol, Ball professed that he’s “not saying somebody staged this to make things look worse,” but he also implied that “special operatives” and “undercover forces” who “do Zelensky’s bidding” may have been involved in the bombing, saying that Russia’s denials were credible since “they haven’t denied … hitting other stuff,” which is not true.

Video From the March 9, 2022, edition of OAN's Real America with Dan Ball

A week later, Ukrainian officials reported that a Russian airstrike destroyed a theater in Mariupol, with hundreds of civilians hiding inside and the word “children” written on the ground outside. On his March 17 show, Ball delivered a winding rant against the American, Ukrainian, and Russian governments, as well as the media trying to “push us into this war and accuse networks like OAN of pushing pro-Putin and pro-Russian propaganda.” Ball then briefly reported on the theater airstrike, and stressed that the story is just “what we’re told.Not saying it’s not true. Just asking the question.”

Ball discovers some consequences of Ukraine conspiracy theories

Despite calling the pre-invasion warnings “a pageant,” suggesting the Mariupol hospital attack was a false flag, and sharing Russian “biolabs” propaganda, Ball has grown tired of conspiracy theories that call the entire war fake.

Above a chyron that questioned whether we are “getting the entire story about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Ball again stressed “the Biden crime family and its connections to Ukraine and Russia” -- but told viewers, with a hint of frustration, that the war is “undeniable … and I say this because I see so many online stories of people saying this is all false, it’s all made up.”

“Make no mistake: There is a war going on, folks, and innocent civilians are being harmed and killed,” the OAN host said. “That is a fact, and that’s a tragedy. But while all that is going on,what else is going on? Not just with this conflict, but what aren’t we paying attention to globally – and more importantly, here at home. That’s what we as patriots need to stay focused on.” 

Video From the March 15, 2022, edition of OAN's Real America with Dan Ball

Even while denouncing actual lies about the Russian invasion, Ball could not resist the urge to indulge in deranged falsehoods.

“Most times, there’s nothing as such called a conspiracy theory,” Ball said. “They’re just coverups waiting for the truth to come out.” But the conspiracy theories he presents to OAN viewers are just as false as the conspiracy theories he denies. 

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https://www.mediamatters.org/one-america-news-network/oans-last-months-directv-were-train-wreck

no lnx many

OAN's last months on DirecTV were a train wreck

Since DirecTV announced it was dropping the network, OAN has become even more deranged

WRITTEN BY BOBBY LEWIS

PUBLISHED 04/06/22

As of April 5, DirecTV has removed One America News Network from its TV subscription packages.

In January, DirecTV announced that it would not renew its contract with the far-right conspiracy theory network. Although OAN provided years of virulent bigotry and right-wing misinformation, including one reporter’s on- and off-screen attempts to overturn the 2020 election, the announcement came after a massive public backlash to a Reuters report which revealed that DirecTV’s owner, AT&T, played a critical role in creating OAN and supplied 90% of its income.

Once news broke of its DirecTV contract expiration, OAN filed a breach of contract lawsuit against AT&T and briefly solicited viewers for “dirt” on AT&T’s board chair. Meanwhile, OAN programming has gotten worse since January, as the network doubled down on old staples like anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and lies about the 2020 election, as well as irresponsible coverage of new topics like the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Supreme Court nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson.

"There are no long-term studies for this vaccine. None. The only protection we have now is not to get it." - Pearson Sharp attacking COVID-19 vaccines

The OAN line on COVID-19 vaccines, as delivered by correspondent Pearson Sharp, is that the vaccines are “turning into DNA” to become “part of your body’s genetic code,” meaning that “there’s a good chance they could … kill you.” None of this is true, but in February, Sharp took these abject lies about vaccine mortality in a genocidal direction, telling OAN viewers that the survival of the United States depended on COVID-19 vaccines killing liberals. Sharp also appeared on Infowars, where he hypothesized that COVID-19 restrictions could spark a justified revolution.

Though she was not OAN’s only misinformer about the 2020 election, former host Christina Bobb became the network’s face of its attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. She fought for, reported on, and fundraised for the Arizona “audit,” and before she left OAN in March to work for former President Donald Trump, Bobb had begun a new phase of her pressure campaign against state-level Republicans to begin new “audits.”

OAN also attached its brand of unhinged conspiracy theories to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Multiple OAN figures have suggested or stated that the Russian attack on a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, was what Sharp called a “false flag operation” connected to billionaire George Soros.

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"It’s deeper – There’s deeper state stuff here, Debbie, don’t you think?” Dan Ball to Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) on Hunter Biden and war in Ukraine

But few OAN personalities took as much of an interest in spreading misinformation about the war in Ukraine as prime-time host Dan Ball, who repeatedly spread Russian government propaganda about nonexistent “biochemical weapons plants” in Ukraine, and seems to fervently believe that the war somehow involves President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and the 2020 Trump campaign’s old, desperate allegations against Biden and a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma. In one segment about Ukraine, Ball even agreed with a guest that the U.S. military should invade and occupy northern Mexico because of immigration.

OAN also spent the past few weeks directing viewers’ ire toward Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. Like much of right-wing media, OAN is enthralled by the false narrative that Jackson “lets pedos out of jail early,” according to Ball, who also called the accomplished jurist “scum” based on this smear. OAN programming has called Jackson part of “the pedophilia problem that is currently happening in the left,” an unmistakable reference to QAnon lies (previously seen during the pre-QAnon Pizzagate era) that liberal elites participate in the systematic sexual exploitation of children. 

In what may be OAN's waning days, as DirecTV essentially replaced it with Fox Nation and some of its more visible “talent” have fled the sinking ship, OAN launched its own streaming service in an attempt to stay alive. While subscriber numbers are not publicly known, it seems unlikely that “OANN Live” will make up for the financial loss of OAN’s DirecTV contract.

More importantly, OAN’s conduct since losing DirecTV -- suing its former carrier, spreading Russian propaganda, convincing viewers that not only will vaccines kill people but some of them have to die, to say nothing of its shockingly hateful anti-LGBTQ content -- should make it clear to any TV provider that this litigious, conspiratorial disaster of a channel is simply not worth the trouble.

IN THIS ARTICLE

One America News Network

Related

OAN host: Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is “scum”

04/01/22 12:41 PM EDT

OAN's Pearson Sharp spreads anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, claims vaccines cause death and alter your DNA

03/28/22 2:03 PM EDT

Another OAN host left the network to work for Donald Trump

03/25/22

natalie harp. bobb

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kpfa fri mtg endorse as more sought than trump?!

https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/marjorie-taylor-greene-2656645182/

Texas Republican candidate Bianca Garcia is vowing to become a "mini Marjorie Taylor Greene" if elected to the Senate, according to Newsweek. On Wednesday, February 9, Garcia —who currently serves as the president of the conservative group, Latinos for Trump— appeared on The McFiles podcast.

During the interview, Garcia discussed her platform as she gave listeners a depiction of the type of politician she'd be. Although Greene is often at the center of controversy, Garcia has applauded her for her political stance. In fact, Garcia believes Greene is "the only one right now that's really fighting back."

"They don't like her. So I might be a little mini Marjorie Taylor Greene," she said. "I don't know. They're going to call me BRG."

The Republican candidate went on to issue an ultimatum to local pastors in her area saying they would "be held accountable" if members of their church did not cast their votes for her. "You're going to either have to show up and show out, or you're going to have to deal with it with the Lord," she said.

Garcia's remarks come as she continues her campaign for the Texas Senate seat located in the 11th district. Her area covers vast metropolitan areas including suburbs south of Houston, Pearland, Texas, and Galveston.

Her praise of Greene comes just days after the extremist Republican lawmaker was mocked on Twitter for confusing Adolph Hitler's private german state police, the Gespado, with the Spanish chilled soup, Gazpacho.

During an appearance on One America News Network's (OANN) Real America with Dan Ball, Greene said, "So everything is completely out of control. Not only do we have the DC jail, which is the DC Gulag, but now we have Nancy Pelosi's Gazpacho Police spying on members of Congress."

Although Garcia is a fierce supporter of Greene, some Republican lawmakers have expressed disapproval of her. In fact, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) recently spoke out against the controversial lawmaker.

"She [Greene] doesn't want solutions and she doesn't care if you get censored," Crenshaw said back in January. "She just wants to be a victim so she can keep asking you for campaign donations. It's a scam."

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https://www.mediamatters.org/one-america-news-network/oan-guest-claims-coronavirus-vaccines-are-effective-if-you-want-kill

DAN BALL (HOST): That five-hour session hearing from doctors, nurses, scientists, virologists, you, and then hearing and seeing data. You know, I'm sure they're suppressing it already. But how could any common sense — and I won't say American — human being on the planet, watch that stuff and not at least have some doubt about all of the mandates, all of the lockdowns, and, primarily, the efficacy of this vaccine. 

THOMAS RENZ (LAWYER): Well, I think it's very effective if you want to kill people. I mean, if that's the goal. I mean, listen, so Dan, and good to see you again, but this is not something that we really have to be curious about. The DOD database, the Demat database — the Defense Medical Epidemiological Database is what it is — it was designed so that we could watch for issues popping up with our soldiers. It's top of the line. It's the best set of medical records, the best analysis tool that I can find anywhere. This is rock solid. These guys are young, healthy people. They're much more fit than the regular population. And we're seeing instance after instance, disease. I have 140-some, I believe, data points, all showing hundreds of percent increases of injury and death. I mean, it is mind-blowing.

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Dan Ball  3rd degree connection3rd

Television Host at One America News Network

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Journalism courses

Journalism classes feature basic writing skills and include a headline style known at the school as "headline-ese," a style for writing and developing headlines. Students are taught a variety of writing styles and formats such as news, sports and feature writing.

Photojournalism courses focus on composition, exposure and general camera operation skills. Flash photography is introduced in the basic photography course. Students learn advanced photo-editing, composition and other techniques not taught in basic photojournalism classes.

For military journalists, DINFOS offers the 6-month Mass Communication Fundamentals Course (MCF), two-week Intermediate Public Affairs Specialist Course (IPASC) and four-week Content Management Course. U.S. Army students are awarded the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) designator of 46S, Mass Communications Specialist, and U.S. Marine Corps students are awarded the MOS 4341 Combat Correspondent.

For military Broadcast journalists, DINFOS offers the Broadcast Communication Specialist Course. Broadcasters begin by attending several weeks of BWAS - Basic Writing and Announcing Skills. If the class requirements are met, students may continue into Radio and Television broadcasting classes.

Students in all courses hail from all branches of the U.S. military and Reserve as well as international military students.]

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Experienced Anchor with a demonstrated history of working in the broadcast media industry. Skilled in Non-linear Editing, TV Production, ENPS, Storytelling, and Television. Strong media and communication professional graduated fromDefense Information School of Broadcast Journalism. Also a licensed California Realtor for the last 14 years. And an experienced fundraiser for local non-profits.

Experienced Anchor with a demonstrated history of working in the broadcast media industry. Skilled in Non-linear Editing, TV Production, ENPS, Storytelling, and Television. Strong media and communication professional graduated from Defense Information School of Broadcast Journalism. Also a licensed California Realtor for the last 14 years. And an experienced fundraiser for local non-profits.

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Dan Ball has given himself until early October to decide whether he'll become the first and only Republican willing to challenge Raul Ruiz in 2018.Dan Ball has given himself until early October to decide whether he'll become the first and only Republican willing to challenge Raul Ruiz in 2018.

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https://www.mediamatters.org/one-america-news-network/year-after-january-6-one-america-news-has-found-its-insurrectionist

no lnx vid

A year after January 6, One America News has found its insurrectionist footing

OAN spent the last year promoting GOP voter suppression efforts, selling airtime to a demented pillow maven, and priming its audience for political violence -- perhaps even civil war

WRITTEN BY BOBBY LEWIS

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM BEATRICE MOUNT

PUBLISHED 01/06/22

The January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump was a watershed moment for conservative media. The “peaceful transition of power” that has long been a force in the mythologization of American democracy broke down that day, and rather than owning up to the gravity of a violent attack on that tradition, One America News Network stuck to its familiar playbook of lies and deceit – this time in service of increasing voter suppression.

A survey performed inSeptember 2021 found that 68% of Republicans wrongly believed that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. Among Republicans who primarily trust far-right outlets like OAN, 97% believed the election was stolen. This correlation is no coincidence, and right-wing media’s continued lies about the 2020 election have provided fuel for nationwide voter suppression efforts by the GOP. In the wake of the Capitol attack, OAN became an important part of the conservative media campaign pushing a whopping 440 bills in state legislatures in 2021 that attempted to restrict voting access.

Voter suppression is nothing new for the conservative movement, but OAN used the aftermath of January 6 to double down on election lies and promote efforts to make voting more difficult for its fellow Americans – while priming its right-wing audience for a potential civil war.

OAN helped drive a frenzy for fraudulent election audits

OAN correspondent Christina Bobb disputed the 2020 election results before a winner was even declared, a moment which was a harbinger for her coverage in 2021. Fueled by a passionate embrace of the Big Lie that the election had been stolen, Bobb essentially became a salesperson for election audits in any state that would entertain the idea.

Bobb provided documents and testimony to get the Arizona audit in motion, and founded a nonprofit to raise money for the audit. Her group Voices & Votes raised $605,000 for the Arizona audit, or about 10% of its cost, undoubtedly in part because of Bobb’s frequent fundraising during her audit coverage on OAN.

The amateurish operation in Arizona appears to be the playbook for other so-called “audits” going forward, even though it confirmed both President Joe Biden’s victory in the state and the oft-asserted fact that there was no significant fraud. But that didn’t stop Bobb or other audit extremists.

Bobb has been concentrating her efforts to spread audits to Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Michigan, counting on friendly GOP legislatures to indulge in the Big Lie. Some states, like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, are making moves toward their own audits. In Texas, which Trump won handily, preliminary results of an audit have once again confirmed earlier counts.

Besides its own correspondent, OAN has helped create a second star of the right-wing election fraud movement. MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell was already known before the 2020 election to be a prolific, unhinged Trump supporter, but Lindell’s delusions turned into an erratic fusillade of election lies, and -- unprecedented in television news -- the wealthy pillow CEO acquired vast swaths of OAN airtime in 2021 to zealously push his own false claims and conspiracy theories.

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OAN repeatedly aired at least three different Lindell “documentaries” alleging to unravel the conspiratorial web behind the 2020 election.Additionally, OAN ran ads for Lindell’s three-day “cyber symposium” over 150 times in a single week, before devoting more than 30 hours of live coverage to his erratic event. Just before Lindell's symposium began, OAN was sued by Dominion Voting Systems for defamation over spreading other election lies; later the network was hit with another defamation suit from voting technology company Smartmatic.

OAN followed the symposium and defamation suit by letting Lindell take over its evening programming on at least three occasions. In his “The Lindell Report” the businessman aired even more potentially defamatory election lies. 

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OAN backed voter suppression attempts nationwide

Pursuant to its whole-of-network embrace of the Big Lie, OAN gave friendly coverage to or expressed outright support of several voter suppression efforts in states all over the country.

OAN’s prime-time shows became important stops for Texas state legislators to promote Senate Bill 7, which “includes provisions to limit early voting hours, curtail local voting options and further tighten voting by mail.” On June 1, OAN’s Natalie Harp hosted GOP state Rep. Kyle Biedermann to raise concerns about “a lot of things going on against the laws” in 2020, like “drive-thru voting” and “ballots that were mailed out that shouldn’t have been mailed out.”OAN’s Dan Ball hosted state Sen. Bob Hall, who claimed that SB 7 would guard against what he called “soft fraud” by “election officials taking advantage of rules to bend them as much as they could in their favor.” According to Media Matters’ data, since December 2020, eight Texas state legislators have made at least 23 appearances on OAN prime time, many of them clustered around the SB 7 debate. 

The Georgia omnibus election bill was another focal point of OAN programming, particularly since the network is also interested in fomenting an election audit in Georgia. In ostensible news segments, OAN reports called Senate Bill 202 a “voting rights bill” that is “securing integrity for future elections,” and literally laughed at the notion that anyone would take issue with these “common-sense changes.” The Justice Department filed suit against Georgia over a long list of “racially discriminatory” provisions in the law, including “the prohibition on efforts by churches and civic groups to provide food or water to persons waiting in long lines to vote.”

OAN frequently turns to one guest in particular forGeorgia political commentary: former state representative and current gubernatorial candidate Vernon Jones. According to Media Matters' data, Jones has made at least 26 appearances on OAN prime time since December 2020 -- often dedicated to promoting his campaign for governor while pushing election lies and audit attempts.

Video file

CitationFrom the October 5, 2021, edition of OAN's Real America with Dan Ball

OAN primed its audience for more political violence

On June 23, correspondent Pearson Sharp drew widespread condemnation for an OAN segment suggesting mass executions of Democrats for supposedly stealing the election from Trump. 

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Declaring the 2020 election was actually “overthrown,” Sharp told his audience: “Any American involved in these efforts, from those who ran the voting machines to the very highest government officials, is guilty of treason under U.S. Code. 2381, which carries with it the penalty of death.” 

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Despite the unmistakable clarity of Sharp’s words, he told Talking Points Memo, “Neither I, nor OAN, are suggesting anyone should be executed,” but added, “That is for the appropriate law enforcement agencies to determine.” 

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Sharp’s midsummer bloodlust wasn’t much of an aberration for One America News Network. OAN guests have casually gamed out civil war scenarios on-air, and the network has aired reports accusing “retired Democrat generals” of spreading civil war allegations against Republicans, while falsely claiming “evidence indicates that it is actually the left that is at war.” 

Though she did not directly suggest violence, Bobb brought in the new year by strongly denouncing the Biden administration as “fascist” and “illegitimate,” in part for having “faked an insurrection on the Capitol” and stealing the 2020 election. For a conservative steeped in Second Amendment mythology about “the tree of liberty” and “the blood of tyrants,” the dots don’t need to be connected.

Wayne Allyn Root, a radio host and far-right conspiracy theorist, appeared on OAN in December and denounced Biden’s “communist dictatorship” for stealing both the 2020 election and Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats, giving Democrats their current tie-breaking Senate majority “destroying this country.” Root accused Democrats of “looking for a civil war,” which he claimed conservatives like him do not want -- but later in the same rant, Root said that the oppression of conservatives by the Democratic Party “is a lot worse” than the conditions that merited the American Revolution. 

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“The worst is yet to come,” Root warned.

Video file

CitationFrom the December 29, 2021, edition of OAN's The Real Story with Natalie Harp

OAN is headed into 2022 with more of the same lies, and little care for any negative consequences

From OAN’s perspective, 2021 was a good year for “election integrity.” OAN’s Bobb fought for and secured an Arizona election audit, and successfully spun the mundane results into enough fuel to keep pushing for more audits. OAN collected viewers and money from airing MyPillow’s Lindell, even if it did help get the network sued for defamation. Several of the voter suppression initiatives OAN supported became law. OAN’s suggestions of political violence have retained a veneer of plausible deniability while priming the audience with fury and fear to keep pushing for more voter suppression. 

Reckless, false commentary about stolen elections and calls for punishing enemies are how we got Trump supporters invading the Capitol, menacing members of Congress, and chanting to execute Trump’s vice president one year ago. But it’s all just good business for OAN.

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12 21 joe rogan pelosi head witch coming for you // war on xian, anti-gubmint take your guns

On One America News Network, three champions of right-wing media -- former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe, and acquitted vigilante gunman Kyle Rittenhouse -- have become focal points ofOAN’s take on a traditional conservative victim complex.

Conservative media have inculcated deep fear of persecution in millions of people, claiming social media companies enforcing their policies against misinformation and calls for violence is like the Holocaust, an antisemitic mass shooting by a far-right conspiracy theorist is a generic attack on all “people of faith,” the FBI investigating threats against school board members is a sign that parents who oppose critical race theory will be treated as “domestic terrorists,” and (an annual favorite) there's a war on Christmas and those who celebrate.

Now, OAN wants the same audience to know that if the Democrats can politically persecute Bannon, O’Keefe, and Rittenhouse, they will get you next.

Bannon surrendered himself to an arrest warrant for contempt of Congress after refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House’s January 6 investigation. O’Keefe’s home was searched by the FBI as part of an investigation into a diary allegedly stolen from President Joe Biden’s daughter. And Rittenhouse was acquitted of multiple murder charges at trial after he shot three Black Lives Matter protesters, killing two and alleging self-defense.

On OAN, all three men are simply conservative patriots being politically persecuted by Democrats.

OAN’s attitude toward the legal predicaments of these three men mirrors a common refrain from right-wing media during the many investigations of the Trump administration: If they can do this to him, they can do this to you. And like with Donald Trump before them, there’s infinitesimally little to suggest that Bannon, O’Keefe, and Rittenhouse are simply being persecuted for their conservative politics, and even less to suggest that random conservatives should fear government persecution simply because of their beliefs.

The conservative media industry runs on grievance, fear, and victimhood, and OAN is using these three men to churn up even more resentment.

Steve Bannon

James O’Keefe

Kyle Rittenhouse

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Tags: Laura LoomerLily CooperLiz CrokinMarcus LambShane VaughnCoronavirusLeftoversvaccinesOne America News

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