XPost: alt.fan.states.idaho, seattle.politics, or.politics   
   XPost: az.general   
   From: criminally-complicit@sfchronicle.com   
      
   KALISPELL, Mont. — A Montana man is facing a $9.9 million fine   
   from the Federal Communications Commission after he sent racist,   
   anti-Semitic and harassing robocalls to tens of thousands of   
   phones across eight states.   
      
   Scott D. Rhodes' calls in 2018 targeted Black and Jewish   
   politicians, a journalist, an Iowa community grieving the   
   killing of a college student and the murder case against an   
   avowed white supremacist who drove into a crowd in   
   Charlottesville, Virginia, the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell   
   reported Wednesday.   
      
   Other states at least also included among the calls are Idaho,   
   California, Florida, Georgia, Washington and New York.   
      
   The FCC announced the fine on Jan. 14 and said Rhodes repeatedly   
   violated the Truth in Caller ID Act by manipulating the calls to   
   make them seem as if they came from local phone numbers.   
      
   Ajit Pai, who stepped down as the FCC’s chairman last week, said   
   the law clearly bans spoofed robocalls “used with the intent to   
   defraud, cause harm or cheat recipients” and that Rhodes’ calls   
   marked “new levels of egregiousness.”   
      
   Among many other things, the calls Rhodes sent included a   
   recording of Adolf Hitler and directed listeners to his podcast   
   where he ranted about Jews, Muslims and other people of color.   
   Calls also went to Charlottesville, Virginia, conveying a   
   baseless conspiracy theory about the death of a woman amid the   
   murder trial of a white supremacist who drove into a crowd in   
   2017.   
      
   Rhodes, 51, has been given 30 days to pay the fine. If he does   
   not, the FCC said it could refer the case to the Department of   
   Justice.   
      
   In his response to the commission’s findings, he complained of   
   “politically motivated gross overreach of FCC authority.”   
      
   Rhodes did not immediately return an email requesting comment   
   from the Daily Inter Lake on Tuesday.   
      
   https://www.weareiowa.com/article/news/nation-world/montana-man-   
   faces-99m-fine-for-racist-harassing-robocalls/507-09d48624-3c9c-   
   4d43-a21b-a50d7ad7ab2e   
           
      
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