Apple has removed all but one of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones‘ podcast libraries from its iTunes platform, dealing a significant blow to the fake news promoter. The company, which last week became the first to reach the one trillion dollar market valuation mark, cited hate speech as the reason, according to Buzzfeed News.

“Apple does not tolerate hate speech, and we have clear guidelines that creators and developers must follow to ensure we provide a safe environment for all of our users,” a spokesperson for Apple told Buzzfeed. “Podcasts that violate these guidelines are removed from our directory making them no longer searchable or available for download or streaming. We believe in representing a wide range of views, so long as people are respectful to those with differing opinions.”

Following the move by Apple, Facebook announced it had “removed four Pages belonging to Alex Jones for repeatedly posting content over the past several days that breaks … Community Standards.”

Facebook, which has been under pressure to remove Jones, made clear that the hate speech content on Alex Jones’ pages, had “been reported” to it, and that Jones’ false news was not the reason for removal.

The company wrote that it had taken down the pages “for glorifying violence, which violates our graphic violence policy, and using dehumanizing language to describe people who are transgender, Muslims and immigrants, which violates our hate speech policies.”

Jones has called the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in which 20 first students, aged six and seven, and six school officials were massacred a hoax, claiming the victims were child actors, according to Media Matters.

UPDATE: ALEX JONES IS HAVING A REALLY BAD DAY – FORTUNATELY IT JUST GOT A LOT WORSE

Fred Gutenberg, the father of one of the teens killed at Florida’s Parkland High School shooting, which took 17 lives, hailed the move.

This is great news. This man has attacked the victims of gun violence and specifically gone after the families of Sandy Hook and claimed that was a big hoax. Good riddance Alex Jones. https://t.co/dCTdDdEBvO

— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) August 6, 2018

Sleeping Giants, which calls itself a “campaign to make bigotry and sexism less profitable,” praised Apple’s decision:

Tomorrow, Alex Jones will scream about his ban from iTunes being political.

There are plenty of conservative & liberal podcasts that don’t harass the parents of children killed at Sandy Hook or Las Vegas shooting victims.

This was not about right or left, but right and wrong.

— Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) August 6, 2018

Image by Sean P. Anderson via Flickr and a CC license

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights hosted a telephone press briefing with civil rights leaders and senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) Wednesday to discuss what’s at stake for LGBTQ rights in the Supreme Court vacancy and nomination process.

Speakers on the call emphasized how nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s troubling record on health care, discrimination and religious exemption would disproportionately harm the LGBTQ community. 

A recording of the press briefing can be found here.

“As the Trump administration continues its attacks against the LGBTQ community, more cases involving LGBTQ rights are expected to reach our nation’s highest court,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference. “With civil and human rights at stake, the Senate must demand the release and review of Kavanaugh’s full record. The American people deserve to know Kavanaugh’s involvement in the Bush administration’s anti-LGBTQ agenda.”

“We’ve made incredible strides on LGBTQ rights in recent years, and it’s easy now to take many of those rights for granted—but that would be a huge mistake,” said Merkley.

He added, “Brett Kavanaugh was handpicked off a list of far-right jurists who were vetted for their commitment to a very narrow view of justice, opportunity, and equality for all – a view that embraces a license to discriminate against our LGBTQ community members. Fundamental rights like marriage equality are hanging by a thread, and it’s up to the American people to push back and make their voices heard.”

“Brett Kavanaugh was handpicked by the anti-LGBTQ Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation. A Justice Kavanaugh would be a threat to people of color, women, and the LGBTQ community,” said Warren. “It’s time we raise our voices like never before and say no to Kavanaugh.”

“When Lambda Legal persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down state laws criminalizing sodomy in 2003, it freed us – we were no longer criminals just for being ourselves,” said Rachel B. Tiven, CEO of Lambda Legal. “But if the Trump-Pence administration succeeds in putting Brett Kavanaugh on the bench, the bedrock of LGBTQ rights will be under immediate siege.”

Tiven added, “The question is not whether marriage equality can be overturned – it is much more likely, and more insidious that it will be slowly undermined by religious exemptions. This nomination puts Trump within striking distance of his goal of overturning Roe v. Wade and of turning back the clock on LGBT rights.”

“For the LGBTQ community, the urgency of our fight against Kavanaugh’s nomination is not abstract,” said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). “It is literally about millions of people having a right to live their lives free from discrimination and with access to affordable health care.”

Schumer: “The National Archives has confirmed that Senate Republicans are keeping a large majority of Judge Kavanaugh’s W.H. records hidden from the public. This unprecedented suppression … leads unavoidably to the question: What are Pres. Trump and Senate Republicans hiding?”

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 2, 2018

Democrats are making the exact same request for Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination that was made for the Elena Kagan nomination. It was appropriate then and it is appropriate now. The American public shouldn’t be denied an opportunity to review his record. #ReleaseTheRecords

— Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) August 1, 2018

A couple hundred protesters have lined the hallway outside @SenJohnThune’s office where Judge Kavanaugh is expected to arrive for a meeting with the Senator. They’re being silent and many are holding up a fist—> pic.twitter.com/ev1GqxttGh

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) August 1, 2018

Griffin added, “For decades, anti-LGBTQ extremists have attempted to use our courts as an instrument of oppression against the LGBTQ community. Now, for the second time in two years, they have handpicked one of their own to sit on the nation’s highest court.”

“Before the ACA, merely being transgender was considering a pre-existing condition and cause for an insurer to turn you down for coverage,” said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE).

“Transgender people will never go back to being a pre-existing condition,” Keisling added. “We’re demanding the Senate refuse to confirm Judge Kavanaugh because no American should have to live in fear of having their coverage denied when they need it most.”

“Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh would tilt an already conservative court to the far right,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR). “In the coming years, there are a number of new issues that will likely come before the court that could result in lasting harm for the LGBT community – including attempts to chip away at marriage equality or permit state agencies to discriminate against LGBT families in adoption and foster care. Our families and constitutional protections are at stake.”

Mike Pence is “an extremist who is amassing power and exerting influence with less scrutiny than any vice president in U.S. history,” says the Human Rights Campaign, in a full-throated exposé on the Vice President.

In an 18-page report, a website, and several videos, HRC is turning its attention to the man who would become president should Donald Trump not finish out his term.

“With Donald Trump mired in lurid scandals and investigations that threaten his presidency, Mike Pence has flown under the radar, amassing enormous power in an administration hobbled by clueless advisors, inexperienced staffers and a revolving cast of lawyers,” HRC says. “Pence is exploiting that alarming leadership void by quietly spearheading a charge to radically undermine the rights of LGBTQ people and women, attack voting rights, undercut sound science, and enable the greatest assault on American institutions in modern history.”

“Mike Pence has made a career out of attacking the rights and equal dignity of LGBTQ people, women and other marginalized communities. Now as vice president, he poses one of the greatest threats to equality in the history of our movement,” HRC President Chad Griffin adds. “With the world distracted by Donald Trump’s scandal-ridden White House, Mike Pence’s nefarious agenda has been allowed to fly under the radar for too long. He has become not only the most powerful vice president in American history, but also the least scrutinized. No more. With this comprehensive new report, HRC is exposing the extent of Pence’s extremism, the threat he poses to equality, and all that we’re doing to combat his hateful agenda.”

For example, HRC has released this two-and-a-half minute video exposing Pence’s virulently anti-LGBT past (below):

“The New York Times reported on Wednesday there has been some speculation about the possibility that Pence could run 2020 on a ticket with the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, although Haley has denied such an alliance,” Newsweek notes.

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