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GOP Congressman Defending Privacy Vote: 'Nobody's Got To Use The Internet' (washingtonpost.com)

Wisconsin congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. defended his decision to help repeal broadband privacy rules by telling a constituent, "Nobody's got to use the Internet." An anonymous reader quotes the 73-year-old congressman: "And the thing is that if you start regulating the Internet like a utility, if we did that right at the beginning, we would have no Internet... Internet companies have invested an awful lot of money in having almost universal service now. The fact is is that, you know, I don't think it's my job to tell you that you cannot get advertising for your information being sold. My job, I think, is to tell you that you have the opportunity to do it, and then you take it upon yourself to make that choice... That's what the law has been, and I think we ought to have more choices rather than fewer choices with the government controlling our everyday lives."
"The congressman then moved on to the next question," reports The Washington Post, but criticism of his remarks appeared on social media. One activist complained that the congressman's position was don't use the internet if you don't want your information sold to advertisers -- drawing a clarification from the congressman's office.

"Actually he said that nobody has to use the Internet. They have a choice. Big difference."

307 comments

  1. He is an idiot... by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In the USA, if you wish to actually be a part of modern society, yes you really do have to use the Internet.

    Just like not having a phone number became a liability many years ago, not being online cuts you off from modern life.

    This guy is living in the past...

    1. Re:He is an idiot... by gtall · · Score: 1

      That past would be when he was riding dinosaurs.

    2. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and if you have a phone people will call you selling stuff. You have to tell them no explicitly if you don't want it. Equivalent to blocking cookies, javascript and running an adblocker I suppose.

    3. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Depends who's "selling" your information I suppose. But a lot of the time it is people bitching about using a "free" service and them having the nerve to try to sell them stuff. Your bank setting a tracking cookie so they can sell you as a middle aged middle income family man is different though.

      But in my mind they should have to make it clear who they've sold us out to. Then we can either choose to do business with them/visit their site or not.

    4. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, who could survive without the Internet.

      Honestly The Internet is nice and all but its all novelty. Nobody REALLY needs it. Anything you can order with the Internet you can order without the Internet. Or are you saying that your life would end with out the Internet? No one has been addicted to tentacle porn before you in the history of man!

      The only people who NEED the Internet is hardcore pirates and anime perverts!

    5. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But a lot of the time it is people bitching about using a "free" service and them having the nerve to try to sell them stuff.

      That's true; a lot of the time it is, which is a silly thing for people to bitch about. But also, people have legit complaints when organizations they have never signed up with or tried to have anything to do with spy on their online activities. This happens for example with Facebook (shadow profiles and your biometrics in their facial recognition DBs even if you never signed up), and Google (tracking shit all over the net), among other things.

    6. Re:He is an idiot... by SeaFox · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This guy is living in the past...

      Truly. He's 73 years old and has been in public office since 1979. In other words, he got where he needed to be in life before computers were even common in the home. Of course he doesn't think the internet is important -- he's never had to look for a job in the 21st Century and most of his friends likely don't use the Internet beyond email and Facebook.

    7. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or people looking to get a job. Many (read "most major") companies only accept online job applications these days.

    8. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but your phone company can't sell your call history. That would be the equivalent thing, not your bs.

    9. Re:He is an idiot... by SeaFox · · Score: 4, Informative

      He's 73 years old and has been in public office since 1979.

      Correction: He's been in Congress since '79, but he was in the Wisconsin State Assembly before then, since 1969. So personal (as in micro-) computers were barely even a thing when he got on the gravy train. Why the hell was this guy the Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology anyway?

    10. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but your phone company can't sell your call history. That would be the equivalent thing, not your bs.

      His bs is for sale

    11. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is why there truly needs to be term limits for Congressmen. You have basically people who no longer understand the way the world truly works anymore, sitting in Congress still.

    12. Re:He is an idiot... by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

      Honestly The Internet is nice and all but its all novelty. Nobody REALLY needs it.

      If the internet is nice then a phone must be a luxury
      Oh, wait.
      Seriously? With news media reduced to reprinting TrumpBites, do you think any citizen can be fully engaged without online access to realtime news?

    13. Re:He is an idiot... by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2

      Gaining status as a utility is the ultimate accolade for any technology. It happened with telephones, and now it's happening with the Internet. When your bridge needs painting, doesn't being able to order on Amazon beat having to hitch a ride into the big city and find a paint store?

    14. Re:He is an idiot... by Freischutz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In the USA, if you wish to actually be a part of modern society, yes you really do have to use the Internet.

      Just like not having a phone number became a liability many years ago, not being online cuts you off from modern life.

      This guy is living in the past...

      No, he's not, he's living in the new reality that US voters created in the last general election. The corporate prostitutes in the Republican party are now in control of the house, the senate and the presidency and they will use that situation liberally to shaft the American people for the next eight years because there seems to be no chance the Democrats will ever grow a spine. The Dems may be corrupt to but they would have opposed this, or at least been easier to turn against it if they had a majority which they don't. The Rep's friends in the advertising business want to buy and sell the most intimate details of your online life? No problem, they'll pass a law. The American people don't like that? Let me paraphrase Antonin Scalia: 'Get over it! ...bitches...' If anybody wants to chew me out for saying this feel free but in the end I'm only repeating what Wisconsin congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr is saying on behalf of more or less the entire Republican party in a slightly more colloquial way. You get what you vote for...

    15. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You have your answer right in front of you.

    16. Re:He is an idiot... by BlueStrat · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Why the hell was this guy the Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology anyway?

      The US version of "Game of Thrones", that's why and how.

      Whenever there are "thrones" of power and wealth, there will be "Game of Thrones" Machiavellian politics and machinations robbing the people of their wealth and freedom. It's a part of human nature, and one that collectivist political ideologies always fail by ignoring when they place power in the hands of a few.

      This is why the US Constitution was written so as to distribute power and discourage it's concentration in one area/branch/office-holder of government and why the Federal government was meant to be extremely weak domestically, and States and local governments were intended to do nearly all domestic governing.

      What we see in the US today is largely the result of too much domestic power in the hands of the central government. Until the central government's powers and scope are reined-in, anything else is simply treating the symptoms at best.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    17. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about anyone trying to get a job? Most places here on backwater, hickville NY don't even have paper applications anymore. Should I apply for welfare because I dont HAVE to use the Internet?

    18. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >term limits

      This just shifts the entrenched corruption to the bureaucrats and lobbyists. See the eddie murphy movie 'the distinguished gentleman'

    19. Re:He is an idiot... by meerling · · Score: 2

      Agreed. Has anyone that doesn't agree tried to get a job anytime in the last 10 years someplace that's not out in the boonies and it's not your uncles business?

      Heck, most places don't even accept resumes or applications in person anymore, it's all "Go to our website and apply".
      I don't even know what the heck use there is going to a job fair, they're the exact same thing, "Go to our website and apply".

    20. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hope for the sake of the last crumbs of any credibility you may have left in the creases of your pants that you're not denying that the old fool actually said, "Nobody's got to use the Internet."

    21. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Very few of these guys are dumb. Playing dumb is the only way they can get away with what they do.

    22. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What we see in the US today is largely the result of too much domestic power in the hands of the central government.

      Funny, because NOT using that power is exactly what people are criticizing him for doing, as the actual action taken was to repudiate a rule that had the central government forbidding the very behavior we find objectionable.

      Methinks that BlueStrat is letting his ideology lead his thinking, not the actual facts and circumstances.

      Emotional reactions are common on the right-wing though, so it is no surprise.

    23. Re:He is an idiot... by rahvin112 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Eight years? LOL

      They aren't going to maintain their majority for 4. They'll be LUCKY if they don't lose the house in 2018 and Trump is a one term president. They've got two years at best to fuck everything up they can.

    24. Re:He is an idiot... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Given a choice, I would give up indoor plumbing before I would give up the Internet. ... and yes, I have lived without indoor plumbing ... for two years.
      I slept in my van, peed in the woods, pooped in an outhouse, and showered at work.

    25. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And that is part of the problem.. a lot of these old fossils have no concept of what the internet truly is, how integral it is to modern life, and what privacy means in the digital age.

    26. Re: He is an idiot... by Kohath · · Score: 0

      Congrats on being manipulated like a puppet by your media masters.

    27. Re: He is an idiot... by caferace · · Score: 1

      Yes, but your phone company can't sell your call history. That would be the equivalent thing, not your bs.

      Yet.

    28. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      In the Netherlands you are required by law to use the Internet to file taxes.

    29. Re: He is an idiot... by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

      What we see in the US today is largely the result of too much domestic power in the hands of the central government.

      Funny, because NOT using that power is exactly what people are criticizing him for doing, as the actual action taken was to repudiate a rule that had the central government forbidding the very behavior we find objectionable.

      Methinks that BlueStrat is letting his ideology lead his thinking, not the actual facts and circumstances.

      Emotional reactions are common on the right-wing though, so it is no surprise.

      Methinks you're either being intellectually dishonest/obtuse or missing the forest for the trees, bigly. Since you post in 'coward'-mode, I find the former most likely.

      The point is that if the government was not so corrupt because having tons of concentrated power attracts bad people, asshats like this Congressman would not be in office and/or saying such stupid crap because he's been co-opted by those with wealth and power.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    30. Re:He is an idiot... by mikeiver1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      This congressmen is more proof of the fact that our law makers are dumber that syphilitic retards. It is clear that the corporations look at us as nothing more than a feed stock of their cash flow and use our lawmakers to expand the tap at will.

    31. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you missed the point of what BlueStrat was saying. He was obviously posting in reply to someone else's comment and made no effort to relate his reply to the main topic.

      With that being said, I agree with his position in general. I think if he had commented on the main topic he would have mentioned that the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution and how it grants congress the power to regulate commerce among the States. Now while this clause has be badly distorted by various Supreme Court judges over the years, I think the internet qualifies for such regulation. The regulations, however, should be passed by congress and not the agencies who enforce them.

      Emotional reactions are common on the right-wing though, so it is no surprise.

      Please try to be more constructive. Many of our problems today tend to devolve into senseless name calling (on both sides).

    32. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Last crumbs of sanity...

    33. Re:He is an idiot... by rahvin112 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Hate to break it to you but the Fed government is far to harder to corrupt than your local government. Your state and local government is corrupt almost without exception because relatively small amounts of money in coordination with non-existent oversight and ethics can buy just about every local politician and even law enforcement. To the point that your local government was bought and sold long before you were even born.

      There is one power I'd like to see drastically expanded and that's the power of Federal law enforcement to monitor and prosecute corrupt local politicians and police agencies (I'd also like to see a similar nonpartisan office at the federal level going after federal corruption). Our founders thought local government would be more accountable and it is in some regard, but it's far easier to corrupt and it is corrupt in almost every state in the union, usually to the benefit of Property developers or other locals with money.

      It's precisely because of that local corruption that the Fed's have had to step into many things they shouldn't be involved in.

    34. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Freischutz! If only I had mod points!

      You are SO spot on. I hope more people will come to understand this.

      Just as regulatory capture has occurred over time we now have "congressional capture"; especially since Citizens United (actually divided) was made law.

      The reality in which we now live is that corporations run the country as evidenced by John Deere and the others attempting to prevent farmers from fixing their own tractors. John Adams must be spinning in his grave.

      During the election Trump said several times how he "loves the uneducated." Each time he made that statement, he would look out over the crowd with this smirk on his face. I think anybody with any intelligence could tell he was actually thinking "what a bunch of rubes."

    35. Re: He is an idiot... by dryeo · · Score: 1

      What about anyone trying to get a job? Most places here on backwater, hickville NY don't even have paper applications anymore. Should I apply for welfare because I dont HAVE to use the Internet?

      Soon you'll need the internet to apply for welfare

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    36. Re:He is an idiot... by Hack'n'Slash · · Score: 1

      I strongly disagree. I've been in the IT field for 20 years and you would think I wouldn't be able to live without Internet, yet my current house is in a very poorly serviced area so I haven't had Internet at home for about 4 years. After a couple months of withdrawals, I got used to it and became much more productive with my home projects. I also save a boatload of money by not having a data plan on my phone. (Seriously don't know how people can justify spending ~$100 just to have Internet on their phones.)

      Also, get off my lawn!

    37. Re:He is an idiot... by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      They've got two years at best to fuck everything up they can.

      I seriously hope none of them read this and think it's a challenge because they really can mess up a lot of stuff even in two years.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    38. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Could you or the republican let my children's teachers know they don't have to use the internet? That is where they do assignments,research, etc. Maybe you could write a excuse note

    39. Re:He is an idiot... by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Have you ever heard the expression chalk and cheese, saying the US Federal government is harder to corrupt than US local government is exactly like saying chalk is harder than cheese. Basically that idiot, pointed out exactly what kind of an idiot they are. Not only that, they emphatically and publicly proved they were paying more attention to the money they were getting, rather than the issue they were dealing with. I bet you could put a percentage on it ie they paid 99% attention to the money and 1% attention to the problem (where the money come from, hmm, the 1% whose privacy will be invaded, hmm, whose privacy will be screwed the 99%). So not only is that guy an idiot, he went out of his way to publicly prove he is a greedy idiot, well done. Now that is like the cherry on top of the GOP losing the next bunch of elections, that idiot is doomed, that comment will be playing over and over again at the next election, if he had half a brain he would retire before then, else it will be targeted at the entire GOP.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    40. Re:He is an idiot... by dryeo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      And yet America has way more problems with politicians playing "game of throne" games then Canada even though our country was designed to have a strong central government after watching the train wreck that the American Civil War was. Here the internet is considered a vital service that should be available to everyone who is willing to pay the going rate, and we have net neutrality.
      Just having ancient arseholes in charge of so much stuff seems to be a recipe for shit like this. Elders are important and should be listened to and their words carefully and respectfully considered, but to put them in charge? Same with the idea of putting billionaires in charge, as if they're going to look after the common person rather then other billionaires.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    41. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      exactly its like signing up to get coupons which is a form of advertising but you choose it and maybie find 5 or 10 things out of a catalogue you sign up for it though and both are getting something out of it. ads should be a choice.

    42. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What a giant rambling false equivalence.

    43. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and paperless reciepts. and paperless many things guess ill be filling up that recycling bin again. i guess banking will be with checks again and ill have to submit every thing in writing and what mail it and wait.

    44. Re:He is an idiot... by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      I love using the internet but I remember days without it and I really don't have to have it. I lived without a telephone for 2 years and when I finally got one installed I wish I'd left the fucker out of my house. I love my cell phone because I have it set where if you aren't in my contact list you can't fucking call me. I remember when I first got a modem for my c64 and logged onto bulletin boards over the phone then later to the internet with a shell account then finally full blown dial PPP networking. But right now if it was gone I'd miss it but it's not a necessity. Having said all that, no one should have a right to sell my private information to anyone. It's one thing for the government to have it, although I'm not crazy about that. For anyone to be able to buy it from my ISP is unacceptable. It's VPN time at my house.

    45. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i spend 100$ a year no data(well 1 gig and i can get more but i just use it when i have to very little) but open wifi is everywhere. its my only phone and mobile data assistant. no need for pen and scratch pad a calculator or calendar and organizer its here but that stuff does not take internet. i just use it to transmit data to others and recieve it when needed. is the interenet needed no but is very useful but im not really talking about facebook youtube etc al entertainment(though i do use the internet at home as my entertainment no cable too). the internet is the new way and better way for people to brodcast and share information. the problem may be that it can not really be controlled like what it takes to get on tv and anyone can relay any information. even contries that take many strides to censer have a hard time and its possible to get through it.

    46. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hope he has a heart attack. Not even joking. When he kicks it I'll genuinely be happy for it.

    47. Re:He is an idiot... by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      I tell them and I've ceased being nice about it. I've noticed that once I decided to be extremely hostile they call less and less. My wife took to taking junk mail from one company and stuffing it into post paid envelopes from other companies and mailing it all back. It put a huge dent in the junk mail.

    48. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This guy is living in the past...

      he is from wisconsin, so really not that far off under its own current administration. we have seen the state falter and fail, and flap around like a beached fish, for the last six years while minnesota, our neighbor and state peer in so many ways, has flourished.

    49. Re:He is an idiot... by Freischutz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Eight years? LOL

      They aren't going to maintain their majority for 4. They'll be LUCKY if they don't lose the house in 2018 and Trump is a one term president. They've got two years at best to fuck everything up they can.

      Really? You are underestimating the complete and utter cowardice, apathy, incompetence and spinelessness of the Democrats. Plus, I forgot to add that the Reps. are also in control of the supreme court (none of the conservative judges are likely to die or retire for a generation). This gives the Reps. carte blanche on gerrymandering and voter discrimination on a hitherto unprecedented scale since with the appointment of that soulless corporate rent-boy Gorsuch the supreme court is now a mindless rubber-stamping office that twill validate everything the Reps. want it to without a single critical thought. If the Dems. fuck up in the 2018 (and the Democrat's set of corporate prostitutes looks looks hellbent on taking the party there) this, combined with the Reps. control of the house, the senate, the presidency and the supreme court might just give them control of enough states to call a constitutional convention which would allow them to modify the constitution at will so expect some really interesting constitutional amendments. Every single one of America's founding fathers is rolling in his grave.

    50. Re:He is an idiot... by whoever57 · · Score: 2

      You certainly don't have to rent DVDs but, guess what, your DVD rental history is protected.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    51. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Methinks you're either being intellectually dishonest/obtuse or missing the forest for the trees, bigly. Since you post in 'coward'-mode, I find the former most likely.

      Oh the irony detector is pointing straight towards BlueStrat. Stay where you are, and I can use you for navigation purposes.

      The point is that if the government was not so corrupt because having tons of concentrated power attracts bad people, asshats like this Congressman would not be in office and/or saying such stupid crap because he's been co-opted by those with wealth and power.

      So he'd be in office saying stupid things because the voters really didn't know any better? You do know you aren't offering a reason for him to not be in office, right?

      But it's another funny remark, since that wasn't your point either. Your point was to regurgitate your standard dogma railing against a central government because somebody indoctrinated you into believing it, which rather served to make your own obtuseness clear, as the actual action being taken was a refusal to act, since the Republicans are the party that purports to deregulation and free-market decision making.

      Including this individual here. Who is even less suave than Louis Gohmert, it seems. The irony, of course, being that he is one of the people who would parrot your lines. How amusing.

    52. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      California requires some tax payers to pay online via their site, and will not accept a check.
      Not paying taxes == fines, jail, etc.
      That is only one example where life as I know it could in fact end due to not using the internet.

    53. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Obama brought so much hope back to America that America voted for a Republican outsider to undo everything he did.

      Actually, America didn't, that is why Trump didn't win the popular vote. He barely outperformed George W. Bush at that, in some cases, underperforming.

      Only the arcane electoral college let him slink into office.

      Probably why on most issues, polling shows the public wants things to continue as they were, for the ACA, for Cuba, for fighting terrorism. Hence the media writing on how Trump is pretty much reversing position on everything. Even the wall from Mexico.

    54. Re:He is an idiot... by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      I wonder when Congresscritters will learn to stop talking about the internet? Any time they do, with a rare few exceptions, it simply makes them look profoundly ignorant and/or out-of-touch.

      I have no doubt that this Senator never touches the internet himself - not directly at least. It's nice have a room full of government-paid staff member to use the internet for you. I mean, we all have that, right?

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    55. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you missed the point of what BlueStrat was saying. He was obviously posting in reply to someone else's comment and made no effort to relate his reply to the main topic.

      That would make the irony unintentional, but it would still be quite ironic that his hand-wringing over centralization is countered in this situation being exactly the opposite, a case of power not being exercised.

      With that being said, I agree with his position in general.

      And in general, I find his position to be deplorable. In specific, it is as well.

      I think if he had commented on the main topic he would have mentioned that the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution and how it grants congress the power to regulate commerce among the States.

      Indeed, this is clearly a federal issue.

      Now while this clause has be badly distorted by various Supreme Court judges over the years, I think the internet qualifies for such regulation. The regulations, however, should be passed by congress and not the agencies who enforce them.

      Doesn't matter to me, as long as they aren't answering to the wrong people. Unfortunately, they did, and their excuses were vapid and disengenuous.

      If you want my advice, make Congress more responsible to the people.

      Emotional reactions are common on the right-wing though, so it is no surprise.

      Please try to be more constructive. Many of our problems today tend to devolve into senseless name calling (on both sides).

      That isn't senseless name-calling, it is a pointed criticism, so you can get off your high horse, I've read enough of BlueStrat's posts to know it is quite apt.

      Perhaps you might suggest to BlueStrat how to improve themselves, and make more constructive posts.

      Not so much with me, as you seem to have less of a grasp of them than you might otherwise require.

    56. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Plus, I forgot to add that the Reps. are also in control of the supreme court (none of the conservative judges are likely to die or retire for a generation). This gives the Reps. carte blanche on gerrymandering and voter discrimination on a hitherto unprecedented scale since with the appointment of that soulless corporate rent-boy Gorsuch the supreme court is now a mindless rubber-stamping office that twill validate everything the Reps. want it to without a single critical thought.

      IOW, the same as it was before Scalia kicked the bucket. But actually, Anthony Kennedy is persuadable on those issues, and Roberts is not a lost cause. He didn't want to end up like Taney.

      Even Alito is not without hope. Sure, he spazzed out on Arizona Redistricting, but then his opinion was irrelevant.

      If the GOP was dumb enough to try a coup d'etat by Constitution, they would find out that they don't run as much as they think. There is a reason why they lost the popular vote.

    57. Re:He is an idiot... by meglon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ....and why the Federal government was meant to be extremely weak domestically, and States and local governments were intended to do nearly all domestic governing.

      No. Anyone who still believes this stupid crap needs to go back to 9th grade and take US History again. The Constitution was written because the confederacy of states was exactly what you describe... weak federal, strong state.... and it took less than 10 years for pretty much everyone to see it was a complete fucking disaster. The Constitution was written specifically to empower a strong federal government.

      What we see in the US today is largely the result of too much domestic power in the hands of the central government.

      What we see currently in the US is the federal government being infiltrated by conservatives who are actively trying to destroy the country from within. It's been happening on steroids since 1994. These "states rights" faux populists only care about being in power, and punishing enough of those "other people" to keep their uneducated base backing them.

      During the Revolutionary War, the conservatives backed mother England, during the Civil War they tried to rip the United States apart through secession, now they're intentionally destroying the ability of the government to do anything. Conservatives like you have been the enemy of this country since before it was founded.

      --
      Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
    58. Re:He is an idiot... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

      In the USA, if you wish to actually be a part of modern society, yes you really do have to use the Internet

      The congressman is 73, so he's not part of modern society. What the fuck does he care, he'll be dead soon. For all we know he thinks the Internet is a series of tubes. And to paraphrase this guy, people don't have to vote for him, they have a choice.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    59. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because it behooves the government, in its relentless quest for complete power control and slavery over you, to put in place complete and total IDIOTS over areas they know NOTHING about. That way all they do is tow the line and eat lobbyist money.

      FUCK these OLD FUCKS that *YOU* and *your DUMB ASS* keep putting into office.
      You need to put them in a fucking RETIREMENT HOME or on the doors at WALMART.
      And put some 20-40 somethings in office that know a little bit about the world and the US and computing, privacy, opensource and open government, and financial health.

    60. Re:He is an idiot... by Pharmakeus+Ubik · · Score: 3, Funny

      That would be when he was riding bitch behind Jesus on that dinosaur.

    61. Re:He is an idiot... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "Why the hell was this guy the Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology anyway?"

      Jobs like that aren't given to skilled applicants with applicable knowledge, they are rewards for long service to the party.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    62. Re: He is an idiot... by oobayly · · Score: 1

      Out of interest, do you always use the person's middle name when attributing quotes, or only when they have a "foreign sounding name"?

    63. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      .... Your state and local government is corrupt almost without exception because relatively small amounts of money in coordination with non-existent oversight and ethics can buy just about every local politician and even law enforcement. ...

      Yep. Case in point: https://www.yakimawa.gov/council/, https://www.aclu-wa.org/cases/montes-v-city-yakima-0
      The Yakima City Council was bought & paid for by the ACLU.

    64. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "In the USA, if you wish to actually be a part of modern society, yes you really do have to use the Internet."

      And that's still a choice.

    65. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      .... You get what you vote for...

      Incorrect. In the USA, you get what you don't vote for.

    66. Re:He is an idiot... by harlequinn · · Score: 1

      "Seriously? With news media reduced to reprinting TrumpBites, do you think any citizen can be fully engaged without online access to realtime news?"

      Yes. You don't need the internet to be fully engaged. The 20th century went ahead without "realtime news". Daily newspapers, the news on some channel or another at 6am, noon, and 6pm, and the news on radio broadcasts work fine. IMHO they worked better in a lot of ways. I find it harder to be "fully engaged" using the internet for news than I did with the aforementioned 20th century style news. And I'm about as connected as it gets these days.

      Did you ever have the pleasure of not having the internet as your news source?

    67. Re: He is an idiot... by harlequinn · · Score: 1

      I'll do it for you. Maybe then your children will end up in a library to do their research.

      JK.

      Seriously though, most of a child's education can be done from texts found in a good library.

    68. Re:He is an idiot... by harlequinn · · Score: 1

      So, to be fair, unless you're as old as him, you've had less possible total exposure to computers and the internet than he has.

      But your ageism aside, you'll be pleased to know that it was people in his generation that started the digital revolution.

    69. Re:He is an idiot... by harlequinn · · Score: 2

      "You are entitled to your opinion, but not your own facts"
      -- Barack Hussein Obama

      No - that would be a famous quote from:
      https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/...

      Obama repeated it (and why not?! It's true!).

    70. Re:He is an idiot... by harlequinn · · Score: 1

      He has a controlling hand in a major part of modern society.

      Don't be ageist.

    71. Re:He is an idiot... by davester666 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      He never road dinosaurs, because they didn't exist in his universe. They are basically the original "fake news" to him.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    72. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey now, Congresscritters know about the internet. That's the thing that's a series of tubes, right? Yeah!

    73. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The democrats would have opposed it because they are paid off by Google, Hollywood, etc. The republicans are in favor of it because they are paid off by Comcast, AT&T, etc. Just follow the fucking money. He's not giving out rationality, he's giving out rationalization for his bought-and-paid for position. But the democrats who would have done the opposite wouldn't have been doing it for a good reason- they'd just have an easier time justifying it, especially since you agree with their position.

    74. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Eight years? LOL
      >They aren't going to maintain their majority for 4.

      Maybe they won't, but maybe they will. What's your record on Trump?

      Election:
      >"For Trump to win he MUST win more that 33% of Latino electorate because he's going to get less than 1% of the black vote."
      Reality: Trump won 29% or a bit less of the Latino vote. He did not win 33% of the Latino vote, as you said he must to win. Trump still won.
      Reality: Trump got nearly 10% of the black vote, not 1% as you predicted.
      >"Either that or he would need to win a good size chuck (more than 20%) of democratic voters and I don't mean independent voters, I mean party line democratic voters."
      Reality: Trump didn't win 20% of democratic voters. Trump still won.
      >"Any way you slice it Trump has very small odds"
      Reality: Trump won. Importantly, he won without fulfilling ANY of the things that you believed he "must do" in order to win. He also won WITHOUT doing ANY of the things that you believed would hold him back or prevent him from winning.

      Economy:
      > "Expect a significant stock market crash tommorow, by the time he takes office the ecomomy is going to be in recession unless he repudiates his threats to reneg on the existing free trade agreements and other economic suicide policies he's promissed to implement to placate the ignorant. He's scared the business community so badly that most companies will halt investments, within a month layoffs will start because everyone is holding back waiting to see how badly he fucks up trade and the economy. Negative views like this become self fullfiling in very short order because emotion drives the market."

      None of this happened. The "significant stock market crash" tomorrow didn't happen. Trump did not repudiate any of his stated economic policies during his time as president-elect, and the economy was not in recession when he took office (or at the time of this writing). "Most companies" did not halt investments. "Within a month" layoffs did not start. In fact, layoffs did not start at all, as of the time of this writing.

      Every single prediction you made has been wrong on Trump. Every single one. He did better with the groups you said he would do awful with. He didn't need a massive chunk of the groups you said he would need. The economy didn't crash, the market responded well to his victory, for whatever fucking market reason. Your predictions were even well bounded and falsifiable. They were, as a result, all falsified.

      You have been wrong about every single possible thing about Donald Trump for probably 2 years straight. Stop listening to fake news and wake the fuck up.

    75. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Being part of modern society is a want, not a need. One can live a very good life without Phones and Internet. Our Ancestors didn't seem to have a problem doing it. You could say that all our modern fixes have contributed to the downfall of out society. Something to hang your Hat on.

    76. Re:He is an idiot... by Carewolf · · Score: 1

      Actually small governments areon average less corrupt because there is less money worth in corrupting each of them and many more of them overall. It is however counterbalanced by the lack of press many of them have if they are not indepedent states.

    77. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The world is looking at you and laughing.

      Unplug yourself, look around you - that's modern life.

      You do not even know you're breathing.

    78. Re: He is an idiot... by kjell79 · · Score: 1

      Or if you submitted a job application in certain industries without an email address where they could contact you then your candidacy would be summarily dismissed.

    79. Re:He is an idiot... by TomGreenhaw · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure you can even go to a baseball game these days without the use of the Internet.

      --
      Greed is the root of all evil.
    80. Re:He is an idiot... by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      When your bridge needs painting, doesn't being able to order on Amazon beat having to hitch a ride into the big city and find a paint store?

      Ha! As if we did bridge maintenance in this country! Now pull the other one!

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    81. Re:He is an idiot... by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 1

      The 19th century went ahead without automobiles, vaccines, or electricity, but I think they did have those adult diapers you're wearing by now.

    82. Re:He is an idiot... by BonThomme · · Score: 0

      If you don't understand why they won in 2016, you're not going to understand why you lost in 2018.

    83. Re: He is an idiot... by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 1

      Yes, but your phone company can't sell your call history. That would be the equivalent thing, not your bs.

      This is seriously why they're trying to kill the U.S. Postal Service- so FedEx can open and read your mail.

    84. Re: He is an idiot... by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

      The US Postal Service scans all your mail - front and back. As in photographs and retains it. Opening mail and reading it goes all the way back to Ben Franklin, the original Postmaster General.

      To tie it back to this moron congress critter's comments: The US post office should sell lists of everyone sending you mail (nothing important in there, like bank account, investment accounts, and people you keep in contact with outside of the internet.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    85. Re:He is an idiot... by Greyfox · · Score: 1

      Well, rich people don't have to use the internet. A lot of these guys don't realize that not being rich means that you don't have the same things or opportunities that they do. That's why they tend to think that people on welfare have it so good -- they don't realize that having $2 a day to feed your family means that your family might not be eating for a couple weeks out of the month. They just assume that the pantry will magically be well stocked, the way theirs is. Yes, you don't NEED to use the internet! You just have your help do it! Adjusts monocle disapprovingly

      --

      I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    86. Re:He is an idiot... by Greyfox · · Score: 1

      Yuh huh. Tell me, who did you think was going to win the election? Was it Hillary? Did you go to sleep that night absolutely certain that you'd wake up to President Hillary? So... what gives you such faith in your current political analysis?

      --

      I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    87. Re: He is an idiot... by kenh · · Score: 1

      Yes, but your phone company can't sell your call history. That would be the equivalent thing, not your bs.

      I suspect the gov't pays telcos to co-locate equipment at switch centers to capture all your call history (previously called 'Meta-data'), so in effect it is already being sold, to the government, paid for with your tax dollars...

      --
      Ken
    88. Re: He is an idiot... by kenh · · Score: 0

      Please describe the crucial element of 'modern society' that is only available on-line... social media? Email? On-line shopping? Cat videos? What is the defining thing, available only on-line, that these luddites are missing out on?

      --
      Ken
    89. Re: He is an idiot... by kenh · · Score: 1

      "What, you mean like with a rag?"

      That kind of stupid?

      --
      Ken
    90. Re: He is an idiot... by kenh · · Score: 0

      Actually, America didn't, that is why Trump didn't win the popular vote.

      Never, in the history has the United States selected it's leader based on the 'popular vote', why do you feel the need to point that out?

      Is it your contention that Team Hillary didn't know that the election was decided based on the Electoral results, not how many Californians she could get to vote for her?

      Anyone too stupid to understand how the election is decided shouldn't become president.

      --
      Ken
    91. Re: He is an idiot... by kenh · · Score: 0

      If the GOP was dumb enough to try a coup d'etat by Constitution, they would find out that they don't run as much as they think. There is a reason why they lost the popular vote.

      GOP won (by popular vote) 3/4th of state governerships.

      GOP won (by popular vote) 3/4ths of state legislatures.

      GOP won (by popular vote) the majority in the Congress.

      GOP won (by popular vote) the majority in Senate.

      GOP won (via the electoral college) the Presidency.

      Every election Democrats lost in 2016 except the Presidential election, was lost in a popular vote.

      --
      Ken
    92. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Rep's friends in the advertising business want to buy and sell the most intimate details of your online life?

      The online advertising business is dominated by Google, Facebook, Yahoo... Not exactly "friends" of the GOP.

    93. Re:He is an idiot... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

      He has a controlling hand in a major part of modern society.

      Don't be ageist.

      He doesn't believe in the defacto necessity of using computers and the Internet in current, modern society. His controlling hand is misguided and uninformed - at least currently. I'm 54 and understand that simple age doesn't bring wisdom and experience to all things.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    94. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't be ageist.

      Don't be a don't-be.

    95. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We could do that if it wasn't for the fact that one party is hell bent on collecting power in the federal government to give handouts to everyone while the other party is hellbent on collecting power in the federal government to keep people from sticking their dick in the wrong hole.

      Or maybe its the fault of the party hellbent on making sure people (who can't be trusted with personal responsibility) don't cause a health hazard to themselves with laws passed in violation of their charter (am I talking about pot or am I talking about big gulps? You decide! At least one of them used local government to do it)

      Possibly the party that excuses every excess of power with "But _____!", even when said power grab is miles beyond what _____ did. Relevant example: everyone comparing all the nomination bullshit (that's gone on for several presidents now) to Bork's stand up vote. "But but but someone leaked his _____ history!" ... which led directly to the Republicans passing the _____ privacy protection act. I wonder if Republicans will invent a new kind of bike that can backpedal in third gear when someone finally manages to buy their internet history and they decide that they need their browser privacy protected after all?

      But enough with skewering the Republicans and the Democrats. What's your plan for America? Vote for a Libertarian who has no idea what the hell a lepo is, and has got all of the charisma and savvy of a potato and couldn't spin his ignorance into a positive for the party? Hell, if the Libertarians could have gotten Johnson to care, they could have positioned themselves as the non-insane Republican candidate and probably draw in a ton of the "i want drugs!" liberals along with the rational Republicans. But the fact is the Libertarians themselves threw a shitfit and quit caring themselves because they nominated a fucking Republican as their presidential candidate and now they can't even.

      So what's it going to be? Where do we go from here? And with decades of hypocrisy behind us and even more ahead, can we even trust you to mean what you say?

    96. Re: He is an idiot... by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 1

      If you believe that, you are an idiot and you wouldn't listen to the facts anyway...

    97. Re: He is an idiot... by Cyberax · · Score: 2

      Gorsuch is to the _right_ of Scalia on many issues. And if one of the more sane judges retires or dies (and that's quite likely) then regressives will have a bulletproof majority in the court.

    98. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, America voted for Hillary. The electoral college voted for Trump.

      Please understand how these things work. It's an important distinction.

    99. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why do you feel the need make pointless comments and answer questions not being asked?

      There are obvious points that can be drawn from the fact that the majority of Americans didn't vote for Trump having absolutely nothing to do with the electoral college...for instance the fact that a clear majority of US population feels their vote has been marginalized, where a vote in Wyoming is worth more than one in California.

      I'm certain Hillary knows how presidential elections work, anyone suggesting otherwise is too stupid too be believed. This is coming from someone who fought tooth and nail to get Hillary out during the primary.

    100. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, America didn't, that is why Trump didn't win the popular vote.

      Never, in the history has the United States selected it's leader based on the 'popular vote', why do you feel the need to point that out?

      Is it your contention that Team Hillary didn't know that the election was decided based on the Electoral results, not how many Californians she could get to vote for her?

      Anyone too stupid to understand how the election is decided shouldn't become president.

      Oh, another Trump apologist, who like DNS-AND-BIND, spews out a response without thinking, much like the Trump himself. Who recently tweeted some self-serving exclamation about the winning of the electoral college(and his accomplishments there were marginal at best, there's a reason less than 200,000 voters would sway the election), as if the rest of us had forgotten his over-the-top claims about winning in a landslide, his baseless accusations about massive numbers of illegal voters, and all the other stuff he proclaimed to disguise the fact that Trump is a useless slug who didn't get all that many Americans to vote for him.

      Barely, as I said, more than George W. Bush in 2004. Which puts the lie to DNS-AND-BIND's words, who claimed America voted for a Republican outsider.

      It really didn't, and no, no matter how much you uselessly whine about the Electoral College as if it were a desirable victory, the fact that Trump under-performed will not change.

      Which again, is probably why on most issues, polling shows the public wants things to continue as they were, for the ACA, for Cuba, for fighting terrorism. Hence the media writing on how Trump is pretty much reversing position on everything. Even the wall from Mexico.

      Tell me, kenh, why do you waste your time defending an unpolished turd? Why don't you kick that turd into shape? He shouldn't be president if he can't even figure out how poorly he did, and how lucky he is to be in the Oval Office.

      Or is it your contention that DNS-AND-BIND is not wrong, that Trump has not lied about his electoral accomplishments, or do you want to explain why you feel some need to ignore the fact that the Electoral College's arcane system is the only thing that put him in office?

    101. Re:He is an idiot... by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      He's 73 years old and has been in public office since 1979.

      Correction: He's been in Congress since '79, but he was in the Wisconsin State Assembly before then, since 1969. So personal (as in micro-) computers were barely even a thing when he got on the gravy train. Why the hell was this guy the Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology anyway?

      However he is in fact right. This is an outdated Obama era law. Back when people used http instead of https, which is universal today. The whole law was questionable in the first place. They *COULD* do it, not that they ever did sell that data. Besides, they don't even need to do such things anymore. They already know who you are and where you're going through the network of advertisements and clicks and such.

      This is one time where an old congressman knew what he was talking about more than nerds. Must be Trump. What next, hell freezing over?

    102. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If he actually knew something he might get in the way.

    103. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the GOP was dumb enough to try a coup d'etat by Constitution, they would find out that they don't run as much as they think. There is a reason why they lost the popular vote.

      GOP won (by popular vote) 3/4th of state governerships.

      Nope. Governorships are not allocated proportionally. Check out the raw numbers, you'll find it is a lot lower.

      GOP won (by popular vote) 3/4ths of state legislatures.

      Again, nope. Check out the raw numbers, it's heavily warped gerrymandering and voter discrimination. You'll have to do some work, but try the ones that have lost in court. Like North Carolina. Who also tried such a coup d'etat as already mentioned. It failed. Badly.

      GOP won (by popular vote) the majority in the Congress.

      Nope!

      63,173,815 61,776,554 in 2016.
      40,081,282 35,624,357 in 2014.
      58,228,253 59,645,531 in 2012
      44,827,441 38,980,192 in 2010
      52,249,491 65,237,840 in 2008

      Notice a pattern to it? Not quite what you think. They're still behind 2 million from 8 years ago.

      GOP won (by popular vote) the majority in Senate.

      Oh, you don't know how the Senate works do you? The Math works out in favor of the Democrats. By 23 million.

      GOP won (via the electoral college) the Presidency.

      Yes, exactly, relying on the electoral college shows where the GOP is failing.

      Every election Democrats lost in 2016 except the Presidential election, was lost in a popular vote.

      Oh my, you want to play that card? Turns out, that actually, when you look at the history, you're wrong. Check out the effects of gerrymandering.

      Add in the illegal voter discrimination, the unlawful districts in North Carolina, Wisconsin, Texas, Alabama, and Florida, and the loss in their Arizona lawsuit, and it's not looking good for the GOP.

      Yeah, I know you don't want to admit it, but the GOP can't afford a coup d'etat. They aren't winning. They don't have a wide swell of popular support. Frankly, they're lucky they didn't lose the popular vote for the House this time, if that had happened, they'd have really looked bad, the disproportionate representation is bad enough, but not quite

    104. Re:He is an idiot... by harlequinn · · Score: 1

      Yes, but the assertion that he isn't part of modern society is not true, ergo my point.

    105. Re:He is an idiot... by harlequinn · · Score: 1

      Adult diapers. You almost made a joke.

      The 19th century had automobiles, vaccines, and electricity. I believe all three were around in the 18th century as well.

      Do you have an argument though? Do you have some factually correct information even? Anything?

      But perhaps I didn't word my sentence well. By "went ahead" I mean we progressed or flourished without internet based real-time news. Does that make more sense to you now?

    106. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Never, in the history has the United States selected it's leader based on the 'popular vote', why do you feel the need to point that out?

      Different AC here... for one thing, it means "one person, one vote" is false when it comes to presidential elections.

      It means my vote may carry more or less weight than some other American, simply based on where we live.

      IMHO every person who votes should have an equal say in the White House leadership that represents us, but I don't expect it to change in my lifetime.

    107. Re:He is an idiot... by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

      ....and why the Federal government was meant to be extremely weak domestically, and States and local governments were intended to do nearly all domestic governing.

      No. Anyone who still believes this stupid crap needs to go back to 9th grade and take US History again. The Constitution was written because the confederacy of states was exactly what you describe... weak federal, strong state.

      And the US Constitution made the Federal government *somewhat* more powerful in a few select areas, but the Federal government still remained relatively weak. Now we have a government that re-interprets the plain meaning of words to expand it's power & scope, like Commerce Clause/Wickard v Filburn and requiring every citizen to purchase something from a private third-party simply to remain within the law and avoid penalties including prison under threat of lethal force, and then there's civil forfeiture where you don't even have to be charged with any crime to have cash and other valuables seized 'because reasons'.

      They had to pass a Constitutional Amendment to both prohibit alcohol and another to un-prohibit it, but magically, now after some dudes in funny black robes declared that silly old Constitution didn't really mean what it said, drugs can be declared 'controlled' and/or 'prohibited/illegal' and placed in, and moved around between, various levels of legal control and prohibition by unelected government bureaucrats, the Federal government ties our border agent's hands to prevent them from doing their job of stopping illegal aliens coming in, but practically no resource or manpower is spared to check carefully for trucks crossing the border with contraband toilets that flush over the legal US federal limit. Then there's domestic spying, "parallel construction", the IRS and other agencies/departments used as political weapons to suppress dissent.

      The US Federal government has "gone rogue" as it no longer recognizes any limits to it's power when those limits stand in the way of one of it's primary agendas.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    108. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Times are changing.

      You can't apply for most jobs without the internet. You're expected to file your taxes over the internet. Most gas stations don't sell maps anymore, and I can't remember the last time the phone company sent me a phone book. Most of my bills are expected to be paid electronically, over the internet.

      Times are changing. As we move forward, those without the internet will find themselves with less and less of the essentials of civilization.

    109. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >and it took less than 10 years for pretty much everyone to see it was a complete fucking disaster

      STOP USING LOGIC! THIS IS SLASHDOT! /s

    110. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >They've got two years at best to fuck everything up they can.

      Supreme Court is theirs, state legislators will still be their own, filibuster is still a thing,

      Democrats need to be repeatedly punched in the dick by Bernie supporters until they support people that actually give a fucking damn about kicking republicans in the throat and literally saying 'Bullshit' when retards like Pence, Trump, Melissa and Prince Reibus say obvious bullshit. As for the electorate, fuck 'we go high' - that shit would fly in Norway, not the Confederate States of Fuck You I've Got Mine.

      This country is retarded, and like those that are mentally disabled, you need to control their lives to get them into a better place, point them in the right direction, give them opportunities and show them the alternatives (living in a gutter, getting shot by police, etc.).

      Protip: Any time a republican that is pro gun cancels a town hall because of 'safety concerns', call him a pussy (because those things can take a pounding), a hypocrite, ask him where his balls went, ask him why doesn't he carry a gun to protect himself, and then ask why can't he hire security with all of the lobbying rimjob money. Republicans love rimjobs but deny it because the shame is what gets them off. You heard it here first, on some idiot's AC post.

    111. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      YOU need to go back to school. The point of the Constitution is to merely HAVE a federal government rather than a loose confederation, where "federal" means both the states and the federal government each has their own powers. By definition. State rights and jurisdiction are just as much a check-and-balance as having separate branches and requirements for majorities in Congress before particular kinds of changes can be put into law. When the Constitution states just as much what the federal government SHALL NOT do as much as it SHALL do, that much of it defines RESTRICTIONS on the branches of the federal government, then that should be your *first clue* that NO they did NOT intend for a centralized overbearing pseudo-federal government. Maybe if we didn't have people in New York and California spending so much time forcing the rest of the country to live they way *they* prefer and instead leave more up to each state, we'd have less in-fighting and partisan cult practices. Enough with the socialist bullshit. The states have their own jurisdiction for a reason.

    112. Re:He is an idiot... by erapert · · Score: 1

      The Constitution was written specifically to empower a strong federal government.

      If by "strong federal government" you mean "a federal government which was empowered in very specific ways to help it herd the state cats" then I agree with you.

    113. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trump is a one term president

      Same thing was said about Bush, then Obama. That no one in their right mind would re-elect Bush after his fuckups, or that Obama's novelty wouldn't last into a second election. Clearly, you overestimate the American people.

    114. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gorsuch is to the _right_ of Scalia on many issues.

      Scalia's history of demented opinions (Really, did you read some of his ramblings in the last year?) is such that even Roy Moore would be a tough call for a worse justice, Gorsuch is merely a token voice who will contribute little in the end. Roberts wouldn't even buckle against the ACA, Kennedy possibly won't falter, Thomas was already lost, and Alito is just a grumpy numbskull.

      And if one of the more sane judges retires or dies (and that's quite likely) then regressives will have a bulletproof majority in the court.

      No, those robes are not made of Kevlar.

      Yet another reason the GOP is more constrained than they realize.

    115. Re: He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GOP won (by popular vote) 3/4ths of state legislatures.

      Not in the New York state senate they didn't. Nor...Washington or Oregon? Ah, Washington it is.

      Sorry for catching your lies, dipweed.

    116. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And the US Constitution made the Federal government *somewhat* more powerful in a few select areas, but the Federal government still remained relatively weak.

      Yes, it failed in its moral obligations to a high degree, allowing the abuse and persecution of citizens to a high degree. That was a terrible thing of weakness.

      Now we have a government that re-interprets the plain meaning of words to expand it's power & scope, like Commerce Clause/Wickard v Filburn and requiring every citizen to purchase something from a private third-party simply to remain within the law and avoid penalties including prison under threat of lethal force,

      Actually, the individual mandate is an alternative to paying tax, letting you purchase something from a third-party, in order to reduce the tax burden that arose from conservative ire over free-loaders taking advantage of EMTALA, which compelled healthcare providers to deliver care absent an ability to pay, if they wanted to be able to take money from the federal government. Which they did, since it pays for A LOT of healthcare, due to Medicare, its own employees, and more. Very few hospitals want to turn that down. Yet what to do, since there was so much uncompensated care? Eventually that bill came due.

      Add in the removal of denial of coverage by insurers, and it became a necessary condition, since insurers didn't want to have to deal with people only seeking to pay in order to get treatment. So they want an incentive for YOU, the individual, to buy their coverage. Hence a tax, that you, an INDIVIDUAL, can alleviate by making a third-party purchase.

      Same as you can get a tax rebate by getting education, a new roof, or any number of things.

      They had to pass a Constitutional Amendment to both prohibit alcohol and another to un-prohibit it,

      Nope! Read the 18th Amendment again. It mandated a law, it required an action. It constrained Congress, in fact, by requiring it to perform a function, even if Congress decided otherwise.

      Naturally an amendment was necessary to undo that, since it was compelling, not simply authorizing.

      but magically, now after some dudes in funny black robes declared that silly old Constitution didn't really mean what it said, drugs can be declared 'controlled' and/or 'prohibited/illegal' and placed in, and moved around between, various levels of legal control and prohibition by unelected government bureaucrats,

      If you don't want it happening, start voting for Congressional Representatives who will tell the bureaucrats to do something else. You do realize they're the ones at fault, for example, it's Congress preventing Marijuana from being removed from Schedule I.

      the Federal government ties our border agent's hands to prevent them from doing their job of stopping illegal aliens coming in, but practically no resource or manpower is spared to check carefully for trucks crossing the border with contraband toilets that flush over the legal US federal limit.

      You're claiming to be both upset that the border agents can't abuse the civil rights of individuals, and wringing your hands over toilets, toilets, which BTW, most frequently dump water into a sewage system that impacts potentially millions of other people, and you pretend you're thinking logically?

      It can't work. Either you recognize that your effluent is subject to regulation, as it is not remaining within yourself, or you're not concerned about how other human beings are treated.

      Besides, the budget for CBP has been cut, so you're even lying over that. Why do you come up with so many hysterical falsehoods, Bluestrat, why?

      Then there's domestic spying, "parallel construction", the IRS and other agencies/departments used as political weapons t

    117. Re:He is an idiot... by toadlife · · Score: 1

      But your ageism aside, you'll be pleased to know that it was people in his generation that started the digital revolution.

      And? People in my generation started Facebook and Google. That fact doesn't qualify me to make policy regarding internet-related technologies.

      --
      I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
    118. Re:He is an idiot... by toadlife · · Score: 3, Informative

      You are underestimating the complete and utter cowardice, apathy, incompetence and spinelessness of the Democrats.

      As a newly elected member of my local Democratic Central Committee, I can attest to this. We took over from a bunch of geriatrics who seemed to be in it for the social gatherings and photo-ops with elected leaders, so maybe we can move the ball forward a bit. Or maybe not. It's tough sledding when the leaders at the top are basically Rockefeller Republicans.

      --
      I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
    119. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Funny thing, I hear the exact same argument from the other side.

    120. Re:He is an idiot... by sorin25 · · Score: 1

      Come on, you don't really think that he believes that. No, he is using a tactic that very common these days, he is making an outrageous claim that you have to waste time to disprove, to move the discussion away from the real issue and go behind you back.

    121. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "the corporations look at us as nothing more than a feed stock of their cash flow and use our lawmakers to expand the tap at will."

      What's worse is they think it is an endless supply. But there is an end, and when it comes it will come with a BOOM!
      They think they can corrupt China and India just as they did here...but it worked here because we are a democracy.
      Chinese and Indian systems are geared towards their own elite, but over here "free enterprise" gears it back to the robber barons,
      who in turn re-supply the campaign coffers of our corrupt representatives.
      '
      And the Trumpets think the corporations will make America great again! They'll only make themselves "too big too fail."
      God I hope this country wakes up in 2018...and 2020!

    122. Re:He is an idiot... by harlequinn · · Score: 1

      "And?"

      And his age doesn't make him "not qualified". That's the point. Judge people on their merits.

      To make it clear, I was applying the point in general - since the posters above were saying that he wasn't qualified on account of his age.

      BTW by your sentiment you're agreeing with me - which is good.

    123. Re:He is an idiot... by jandersen · · Score: 1

      He's 73 years old and has been in public office since 1979.

      Correction: He's been in Congress since '79, but he was in the Wisconsin State Assembly before then, since 1969. So personal (as in micro-) computers were barely even a thing when he got on the gravy train. Why the hell was this guy the Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology anyway?

      Let me try to play the devils advocate here. The fact that he is old doesn't really preclude him from having valid opinions about computers or other things; I can't see anything to indicate that he hasn't used computers or the internet in the past. But I think that is irrelevant in this case, because it isn't about technology, but about privacy. Perhaps his position in general is that privacy isn't a big issue any way? Needless to say, I don't agree with him - the internet has become a crucially important tool for both commerce and academia, and while I'm not all that worried about what some government agencies know about my activities on the internet, I have no craving for being spammed by idiotic adverts or being scrutinised by the worthless parasites who are looking for ways to extract more money from me.

      As for why he is the chairman of House Committee on Science and Technology: sometimes the chairman isn't all that important for what the committee does. Perhaps this is a nice sinecure for somebody nearing retirement?

    124. Re:He is an idiot... by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

      The 19th century had automobiles, vaccines, and electricity. I believe all three were around in the 18th century as well.

      So...Ben Franklin drove a car, used vaccines instead of suffering those horrid pox marks all his life, and didn't fly a kite?
      Well, we know how little YOU know!

    125. Re:He is an idiot... by harlequinn · · Score: 1

      Sarcasm...?

      I'll assume you know the history - but for those that don't:

      Cars were the late 19th century for internal combustion engines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      Vaccines were as early as the 10th century (holy shit that's earlier than I thought): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      Electricity was being played with in the 18th century - but it wasn't until the 19th century that they made huge leaps in electrical engineering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      And last but not least, it looks like Benjamin Franklin lost a son to smallpox and had an opportunity to immunise him but had not: https://www.washingtonpost.com... (anti-vaxxers take note).

    126. Re:He is an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why the hell was this guy the Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology anyway?

      I take it you have haven't followed politics for the last 7 years or so? Almost every single committee, department, etc.. in government is being led by the person that hates that group the most. Republicans almost gleefully put people in charge of areas that those people despise. I can only assume that if government is horribly run, then it makes a stronger case for less government or something. Because other than that, the congressional choices for all their committees make zero logical sense.

      And Trump has doubled down on this strategy: Head of the EPA, spent most his life lobbying against the EPA and suing it. Head of Education, spent most her life promoting private religious charter-type schools, and hates public education.

    127. Re:He is an idiot... by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

      Cars before Otto?
      No
      Call them what you will, they were not cars
      Steam powered carriage,yes.
      Maxwell started the theory. There were no amplifiers. There was, therefore, no electronics at all
      Next time, find an actual source. Wiki is, at BEST a starting place.

    128. Re:He is an idiot... by harlequinn · · Score: 1

      Yes, cars before Otto. You don't get to redefine what a car is just because it doesn't mesh with the incorrect history you are trying to present.

      Not having amplifiers does not define whether you have electricity or not. The argument was about "electricity", not about "electronics" per se. Don't conflate things. FFS, even if you argue that Faraday is the defining point of having electricity or not - that fits in very well with what I wrote in the post you are replying to. Really mate, this is so very boring.

      Lol, "actual source." Funny. It literally is an "actual source."

      Wikipedia is very good for historical knowledge like this.

      Anyway, now we all know you weren't being sarcastic. You should have kept your proverbial mouth shut.

    129. Re:He is an idiot... by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

      No, Wiki is not a source, as anyone who has ever been chastised by a professor for failing to do actual, traceable research would know.
      I assume you think a steam engine is a car?
      Lots of luck on that.

    130. Re:He is an idiot... by harlequinn · · Score: 1

      You seem confused.

      Wikipedia is not a well received reference (at University level). Wikipedia is still a source. It is a good source for historical trivia (e.g. want to see when J.S. Bach was born? Wikipedia is perfect for that).

      No, a steam engine is an engine (i.e. a motor). Steam engines powered many vehicles and machines of the day.

      Keep going though. You can do it.

  2. Old people should be shot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or at least be kicked out of the government after the age of 60.

    1. Re: Old people should be shot by prefec2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well then. When the next election comes vote for someone else.

    2. Re: Old people should be shot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well then. When the next election comes vote for the other dinosaur.

      FTFY

  3. Remember when the government told us... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Remember when the Social security office told us to create accounts to prevent identity theft. Regardless of if you were regularly online or not?

    I'm glad we didn't have to do that and that this congressman is finally taking actions to prevent identity theft by.... allowing corporations to sell information about us, so that people can target advertising based on our identity...........

  4. Sadly, he's kind of right already by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you want to keep unprincipled actors in the datamining sphere from getting (too much) information about you, you *can* avoid patronizing internet services that are run by them. That means you don't get to enjoy 95% of the internet, because every-fucking-thing is run/owned/exploited/controlled by Google, Facebook, Akamai, Cloudflare...

    I'm unusually careful with what I do on the internet compared to most people I know, and every year I feel more and more socially handicapped. As in:

    "Oh, you don't do Facebook? I'll send you the invite by email then".

    "What do you mean you didn't find it? It's the first line in Google search... What the fuck is Duckduckgo?".

    "You should have used Waze instead of that offline satnav: it shows traffic jams and speed cameras live! What do you mean it's evil?"

    Etc etc etc...

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    1. Re:Sadly, he's kind of right already by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Comparing to google/facebook/etc is not accurate.
      Those companes don't charge you a dime, you trade your privacy for their services.
      And consequently you are not their actual customer.

      ISPs charge for their services, you are their customer. That's a significant difference. Now, if only there were competition between ISPs the free market would (probably) fix the problem. Or at least your privacy would be fairly valued and some ISPs would provide service at no charge in exchange for spying rights - much like there are VPN services that are advertiser funded and thus 'free' to the end user.

    2. Re:Sadly, he's kind of right already by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Regarding your Google search point, with the filter bubble problem you'd not be likely to find two people with the same search results anyway...

    3. Re:Sadly, he's kind of right already by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Comparing to google/facebook/etc is not accurate.
      Those companes don't charge you a dime, you trade your privacy for their services.

      I don't use their services. I have never signed up with either one. I don't use google search, maps, or any of their other things. Ditto facebook.

      If I didn't take technical steps to block their tracking shit that most people do not know how to do, they would still track every damned thing I did on the net. It simply isn't true that you can avoid their tracking by not using their services. Read up on "shadow profiles" sometime...

    4. Re:Sadly, he's kind of right already by Namarrgon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The point here is, how to avoid unprincipled ISPs. It's trivial to go to duckduckgo instead of google, and a click will install a browser extension that blocks all site connections to facebook, but in a lot of the US it's not so easy to choose a different broadband provider or mobile telco.

      Between multi-year contracts, locked-down or incompatible phones, lack of competition between duopolies, legal prohibitions on municipal broadband, strong pushback from customer service etc etc, it can be a significant undertaking to switch - assuming you have any reasonable alternatives at all in your area.

      --
      Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
    5. Re:Sadly, he's kind of right already by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yet you are using their services.
      You are viewing websites that include facebook functionality.
      You may not choose to avail yourself of that functionality, but you are still using websites whose owners have decided that facebook's functionality is worth including on their webpages. You may see it as a negative proposition, in which case you should consider it the price for using those websites.

    6. Re:Sadly, he's kind of right already by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've seen someone say "it was the government declaring the winners and losers". I let that slide but in reality, the ISPs are incumbent winners anyway. They tend to have some degree of government monopolies. In the US, you don't have multiple cablecos on a given street, and only one DSL provider. If you're lucky you have a choice of two land-type broadband services.

      Even cellular providers have a monopoly to a degree, on the spectrum they're using. There's only so much useful spectrum and it takes enormous sums of money for a new business to buy such spectrum.

    7. Re:Sadly, he's kind of right already by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're a dumb cunt, Harry.

    8. Re:Sadly, he's kind of right already by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uh, OK?

    9. Re:Sadly, he's kind of right already by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't get any services from google/facebook and their ilk. They still are tracking me because 99% of websites break if you don't run scripts for google ajax apis, facebook signin widgets, like widgets, share widgets, tracking scripts, ad sense, content delivery networks, and on and on it goes.

      The internet has become dependent on entities that spy on you and sell your personal information whenever given the chance. Modern society is heavily dependent on the internet. We are trapped. They won. We lost.

    10. Re:Sadly, he's kind of right already by dgatwood · · Score: 2

      If you want to keep unprincipled actors in the datamining sphere from getting (too much) information about you, you *can* avoid patronizing internet services that are run by them. That means you don't get to enjoy 95% of the internet, because every-fucking-thing is run/owned/exploited/controlled by Google, Facebook, Akamai, Cloudflare...

      Actually, you can't, because almost invariably your immediate ISP will be run by an unprincipled actor in the data-mining sphere, and any VPN provider you choose to hide your traffic will also likely be surreptitiously run by an unprincipled actor in the data-mining sphere (not to mention that others will wonder why you feel the need to hide your traffic from your ISP, and will then suspect you of wrongdoing).

      The real problem here is that the people making the decisions at this point (including this Congressperson) lack sufficient understanding of the difference between an ISP—a company providing the Internet service for your home or business—and an Internet content provider, e.g. Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc. The law that they blocked applied only to the former, not to the latter, precisely because you do have a lot of choices in the content providers, but rarely have more than one viable ISP option, and essentially never more than two.

      If you read his statement as "If we treated Internet content providers as regulated utilities...", the statement makes perfect sense and is perfectly correct. What it fails to recognize is that most Americans get their actual home broadband service from a regulated monopoly. Internet service providers have always been regulated utilities, from the very beginning, albeit a less regulated arm of a regulated industry, whether that industry is the telephone provider or the cable company.

      The only real competition, meager as it might be, is among cellular providers. Unfortunately, because of the high cost of cellular broadband, it is generally practical only for people who can't get wired service. If you look at areas that have access to traditional wired Internet service, I doubt even 1% of those folks get their home Internet service from someone other than the cable company, the phone company, or a CLEC leasing the lines from the phone company. The supposed "competition" is so rare that it is essentially lost in the noise.

      The bottom line is this: As long as regulatory decisions are made by people who double-click Internet Explorer and think that it is "the Internet", we're going to continue to have brain damaged regulatory policies that screw consumers. No 73-year-old is qualified to do that job, period. Frankly, I have my doubts about anyone old enough to realistically get elected to Congress being qualified. Even folks in their early forties only grew up with the Internet if their parents worked at a university, so maybe single-digit percentages of them are qualified. You have to get down to folks in their early thirties and younger to have a non-negligible probability of competence, and folks that young generally haven't bubbled up to the federal level yet.

      Call it age discrimination if you want, but putting a 73-year-old in charge of regulating the Internet is like putting a strictly adherent Old Order Mennonite (of the horse-and-buggy-only variety) in charge of the DOT. You can't usefully understand how to govern something that you don't understand, and you can't understand something without being immersed in it.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    11. Re:Sadly, he's kind of right already by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't get any services from google/facebook and their ilk. They still are tracking me because 99% of websites break if you don't run scripts for google ajax apis,

      Its weird that you wrote that without recognizing the obvious contradiction. The websites you access are making use of google's service, that's why they break without it. I'm sure that annoys you, I don't like it either. But the fact remains you are using google's service in order to view those websites.

    12. Re:Sadly, he's kind of right already by somenickname · · Score: 1

      Geez, I thought I was the only one...

    13. Re:Sadly, he's kind of right already by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Use startpage, it is a great proxy for Google.

  5. No one _has_ to use any infrastructure ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... but they'd soon starve to death in their homes.

    1. Re: No one _has_ to use any infrastructure ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Congress' reply to your comment:
      "You don't have to have a house."

      While technically true, it's still an asinine point to make and should get them nothing but harsh criticism.

  6. You get the government you vote for by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My job WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT would literally be impossible for me to do without the internet. Thanks, boss!

  7. Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a moron. by Hans+Lehmann · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Let's see him win his next reelection without using the Internet. Is that possible? Of course not. As long as old white men like him keep getting elected into office, things will never get better.

    --
    09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
  8. And I Won't Follow Your Laws by zenlessyank · · Score: 0

    Do whatever you want, assholes. I don't give a damn any more. I hope you enjoy an eternity of sucking Satan's' cock for your soul you sold to him for that money and power.

  9. I dare him not to use the internet for a month ! by morbingoodkid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How can you not use the internet let's see to not use the internet would require:

    1. Drawing money for a month before the experiment start as most banks use internet technology to contact their branches. (Yes might be secured but still TCP/IP)

    2. You cannot buy from certain stores because they use internet technology to update store details and order new stock.

    3. You cannot even send a letter or receive a letter because I can promise you the systems that sort your mail are connected to the internet in some way. (Uses network technology)

    4. In some buildings you will not be able to use elevators so walk up the stairs as they monitor the lifts via internet connections.

    5. You cannot watch TV because the TV stations use internet connections to build their news and even news papers become problematic.

    6. You cannot use a phone because even landline phones these day at some stage pass through internet connected devices.

    7. Oops cannot use electricity from electricity grid, even the solar panel controler is that you use at your home might be connected to the internet.

    So yes it is absolutely possible to not use the internet. But you will have to live somewhere in a forest somewhere.

  10. He's exactly right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Vote with your wallet and cancel your service. When they ask why, say "your terms of use allow the sale of my browsing history. That is not acceptable to me and a deal breaker." That will change their minds. All ISPs care about is money and the customers who give it to them.If you're going to scream for regulation, you are really just trying to have your cake and eat it too. Take some substantive action, and you can get service on the terms you want.

    1. Re: He's exactly right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really? If I call my ISP and say I'm canceling unless they change their terms of service, then they're going to change their terms of service? Wow, I have lots of calls to make!

    2. Re:He's exactly right by superwiz · · Score: 1

      Or spend a few extra dollars and set your router to encrypt and route all your traffic through a VPN. Many consumer-grade routers you buy today already have that option.

      --
      Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  11. Amazing how Republicans talk out of both sides... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After Sopa and Cispa and then this legislation that says that we basically have no privacy online and that the ISPs and our government have impunity to hack us all they want.. I call BS on their efforts to create a police state. Just wait for the next election assholes!

  12. Senile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nobody has to drive a car either, right? Please tell us how you walked to school, uphill both ways.

    1. Re:Senile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you forgot "in the snow"

  13. Time for his info to be posted publicly by future+assassin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    if you don't want your personal info as a public servant to be available to anyone 24/7 don't be a public servant.

    --
    by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
  14. Exactly right by SuperKendall · · Score: 1, Informative

    The ISP having your browsing data is the LEAST of your worries, since they have not sold anything before these rules, and the rules they struck down were not even in place.

    The real people who sell your data to advertisers would be doing so without anything to do with your ISP - Google/Facebook/Amazon etc. If you want to do something without THEM knowing, well good luck I say - or do not do it on the internet (or with a credit card).

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Exactly right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Then that raises the question of why such haste was made in lifting the rules, and why the Repubs are making such contrived defenses of said haste.

    2. Re:Exactly right by Namarrgon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What makes you think Google, Facebook etc are so keen to sell your data while AT&T etc would never consider it, despite them knowing everything from your home address and daily movements to your TV watching habits and full browsing history?

      Just like Google & Facebook, the major ISPs don't sell your data but do use it to run targeted ad networks of their own, taking full advantage of their far more extensive knowledge of you - and they're much harder to avoid. Examples of abuse abound, like Verizon being fined for their zombie supercookies, or AT&T charging an extra $29/month if you don't care to be targeted.

      You can easily avoid Google or Facebook, but how do you avoid your only local broadband provider, or the telco you bought your phone from? It seems the GOP's answer is to avoid the internet completely.

      --
      Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
    3. Re:Exactly right by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I would suggest even more in the opposite direction.

      AT&T will happily sell your data in its entirety.

      Google and Facebook use your data as their primary money making method. Your data is sacred to them. They will sell access to your data, they will sell derived statistics to your data, they will sell spots on your screen when using your platform, but if there's one thing that Facebook and Google won't actually sell, it's the data itself.

  15. Re:Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a mor by gtall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Nah, there's are legions of Republicans and a few Democrats that will still get voted in because their constituents are just as backward as they are. Texas is a prime example. Science? They've heard of it but figure is it a colossal dodge by liberals to prevent them from having dominion over the earth and giving it a good fucking.

  16. Re:I dare him not to use the internet for a month by gtall · · Score: 2

    Are you trying to give this moron a heart attack? He's gotten to 73 years old being an ignorant git by not paying attention to things that will disrupt his view of the world. His constituents think he's just potty.

  17. The Congressman is dangerously uninformed. by dweller_below · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I hope somebody convinces the congressman that the internet is essential to the US economy before he causes too much damage.

    Our society requires rapid, successful transportation and communication. We have almost completely transitioned to a Just In Time (JIT) economy. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    Thanks to JIT optimization, there are no large stores of immediately useful resources and goods in the US. All elements of our society depend on tight, reliable links between supply and demand. The stores only have a few days supplies. The stores rely on timely orders and deliveries to maintain stock and reduce overhead. The suppliers of stores only have a few days of supplies. They rely on receiving accurate and timely orders to know where to deliver. Those suppliers then must place timely and accurate orders to keep the next link in the chain moving. This continues all the way to the harvesting and transportation of raw materials. Every step is optimized to reduce overhead and unnecessary stock. Any supplier that fails to optimize is replaced by a more efficient supplier that has optimized. Every step is dependent on quick, accurate communication and transport. When this breaks down, people die.

    For example, most of the deaths during the Hurricane Katrina debacle were not caused by the initial flooding. They were caused by the breakdown in transportation and communication.

    ALL aspects of the US transportation and communication grids are dependent on the continued functionality of the internet. The phone systems are now interlinked with the internet. The management of the highways and the supermarkets all depend on the internet. The internet supports all orders and deliveries in the US. Without the internet, there is no food in the stores or gas in the gas stations. If the internet goes, the electrical grid quickly follows.

    If the internet suffers an extended outage, there would be massive numbers of deaths. During the first few days, there would be thousands of deaths. During the first few weeks there would be millions of deaths. During the first few months, there would be billions of deaths.

    On the other hand, the internet is built and maintained by hordes of capable people. We can overcome almost any obstacle. Once the dying starts, we will come up with answers. They will not be pretty, but they should be functional. Hopefully, one of the first acts will be the elimination of anybody who claims that the internet is unnecessary.

    1. Re:The Congressman is dangerously uninformed. by Kjella · · Score: 2

      If the internet suffers an extended outage, there would be massive numbers of deaths. During the first few days, there would be thousands of deaths. During the first few weeks there would be millions of deaths. During the first few months, there would be billions of deaths.

      So... two-three months without the Internet and billions will die. The hyperbole is strong in this one. So much of what we do these days is not about survival. In a true life-or-death emergency we'd make different priorities, in the absence of information we'd restart the push economy. People would start stockpiling pasta, rice, flour, biscuits, canned food, bottled water and everything else that could be preserved. We'd limit consumption to war rationing standards, everything on a need-to-have basis. The transition would be painful and some would die but I think there's a lot of production capacity that isn't utilized today because it's not economically efficient, but if there's a shortage it could be used. Slaughter the cattle, ship the beef and the grain you saved for example.

      Of course it would depend on whether or not we could keep society together. If it first started to disintegrate with looting and riots with gangs raiding supplies so trade and industrial production comes to a halt then yeah things could fall apart. I don't think locusts like that could last though, they'd just plunder their way but as there's less and less to plunder they'd just fizzle. And eventually we'd have to rebuild in a more sustainable way, like redoing the last 200 years or so. I think we'd lose the modern tech that requires a civilization-level effort like computers and such, but I think Amish-level societies would be reasonably self-sufficient enough to survive.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    2. Re:The Congressman is dangerously uninformed. by dweller_below · · Score: 2

      If the internet suffers an extended outage, there would be massive numbers of deaths. During the first few days, there would be thousands of deaths. During the first few weeks there would be millions of deaths. During the first few months, there would be billions of deaths.

      So... two-three months without the Internet and billions will die. The hyperbole is strong in this one. ---SNIP--- I think we'd lose the modern tech that requires a civilization-level effort like computers and such, but I think Amish-level societies would be reasonably self-sufficient enough to survive.

      So, to summarize, we agree that if we lose the internet, we are screwed. You feel that we can somehow return to 18th century farming practices and still sustain current population levels.

      I pray that we will avoid this situation. The only thing that might take down the internet is a sustained, determined effort by a large group of crazy people. Unfortunately, it sounds like Congressman Sensenbrenner might be an example of such a group.

      I don't think it is hyperbole to say the billions will die in an extended (months long) internet outage. Here are a few more depressing facts:

      • * Almost all of the world's money is virtual. It exists as trust and electronic records. It's potential is only the potential to create certain types of communication. All these communications depend on the internet. Without the internet, the computers in the banks are simply odd shaped piles of toxic waste. An internet-less credit card only has value as a book mark. There are no financial transactions without the internet. There is only barter.
      • * Most of the US cultivated farmland is degraded from 200 years ago. The soils have increased levels of minerals and salts. The soils have decreased levels of organic material. The aquifers are depleted. Most US farmland requires high-tech intervention to maintain productivity.
      • Almost all the cultivated farmland west of the Mississippi requires high-tech irrigation to produce crops.
      • * There are no meaningful stocks of "heritage" seeds. The US lives off of hybrid seed that is produced in a small number of high-tech farms. Even if the current crops could be used for seed stock, most farmers no longer have the means or knowledge to preserve and treat seed.
      • * Farming is HARD, specialized work. It takes decades to get good at it. 18th century farming is even harder and more specialized. It requires knowledge, skills, and culture that only exists in the Amish. The Amish are good, but they aren't going to feed more than a few thousand people.
      • There are almost no available animals to support a large return to 18th century farming. Virtually no oxen. very limited stocks of chickens, geese, ducks, pigs, and sheep. There are only a few thousand work-horses.
      • 18th century farming requires a lot of specialized support skills that no longer exist. I would be surprised if there are 100 blacksmiths in the US that could support a farming community. I expect I could count the number of coopers that can work at that level of technology on my fingers. And that is only 2 of a couple dozen specialists that would be needed to create a viable farming community.
      • Even if somebody could figure out what people need to know to survive, there is no way to communication that information to people without the internet. We don't have the old, low-tech printing presses anymore. If the old printing presses still existed, you couldn't get supplies for them. Even if you could somehow print the information, you couldn't distribute it before most of the people died.
      • The population of the world back in 1800 was about 1 billion people. There is a considerable state transition between our current state and that state. It may not be reversible.

      So, to summarize, if we lose the internet, first the money disappears, then the food disappears, then the people disappear.

    3. Re:The Congressman is dangerously uninformed. by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      People would start stockpiling pasta, rice, flour, biscuits, canned food, bottled water and everything else that could be preserved

      You can't prepare for a disaster after the fact, brother. You have to be prepared before. Sure, I have food stored, and guns to help me protect my food, but government will just pass a law permitting them to steal my food for the good of other people who are less well-prepared than I am, and then many men with more guns than I have will show up to take it in the case of any truly extended emergency. I have it anyway, why not. Rice and beans are cheap and will feed me for a long time, if I get lucky. It won't feed my community for long, but they'll probably steal it anyway.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:The Congressman is dangerously uninformed. by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      The internet hasn't really been that important for trade & commerce for much more than 20 years. Why do you think that if we lost it we'd go back to pre-typewriter technology levels?

      No more JIT, you'd need more fat in your supply chain, the supermarket would have to make paper orders to the warehouse and so on - things would be less efficient. But it was like that when I was a kid. I surviv>NNNMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  18. Disconnect him! by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    For saying something so entirely ignorant, he should be disconnected from his ISP. I'm not talking about just his computer, I'm talking about his phone, his TV and every damn device that invariably is linked to his ISP. What he doesn't realize is that the internet has become much more than using a computer, it's everything that is a form of a electronic communication.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  19. OK? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Actually he said that nobody has to drink clean water. They have a choice. Big difference."

  20. Re:Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a mor by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

    Let's see him coordinate his campaign without the Internet. Like it or not, over the last 25 years the Internet has basically transformed the industrialized world, and is already making an incredible amount of headway in the developing world. I'll wager in another 25 years, we'll view this kind of moronic statement with the same general derision as someone around 1910 mocking people who want electricity generally available.

    In other words, this guy is a fucking moron, a simpering halfwit who probably does get elected because he's in a district that just knee jerk votes for the guy wearing the right team jersey.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  21. The other side of the coin by magusxxx · · Score: 1

    If they're going to sell our data then they have to wait until 2018 and ALL previous data must be deleted. Everyone starts from scratch with a clean slate. If not, then all federal employees and elected officials using government computers must give FREE public access to THEIR previous user history. This, of course, will need to be available in hard copy for those who choose not to use the internet. ;)

    --
    Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
  22. Re:Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a mor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Um, what?

    When people go to vote, they look at the (D) or (R) next to the name and vote. Hence why parties exist in the first place, it all but eliminates third parties.

  23. I wonder by Archfeld · · Score: 3, Funny

    at 73 he probably equates the internet thing with the telegraph.

    --
    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    1. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yall are the ones voting these old ass wheelchair bound retirement home motherfuckers into office.

  24. Yey by superwiz · · Score: 1

    So there will be a larger market for VPNs. Well, that is if people really do care about being targeted by ads as much as some claim they do.

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
    1. Re:Yey by magusxxx · · Score: 1

      And guess how many of those VPN services will have congressmen as stockholders.

      --
      Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
    2. Re:Yey by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oops, blocked VPN. Whatcha going to do, move to the other company (if you even have the choice) that also blocks VPNs?

  25. Fuck this ignorant jerkoff. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is it with the midwest and the idiots who live there who think they somehow have the right to tell others
    what is best for them ?

    I hope this asshole gets terminal cancer, and the sooner the better.

  26. Re:Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a mor by JenovaSynthesis · · Score: 1, Funny

    Not to mention they're terrified of such dangerous innovations as "the wheel" and "fire"

    --
    Anonymous Cowards generally receive no replies because you're a coward and I'm a bitch :)
  27. Re:Amazing how Republicans talk out of both sides. by superwiz · · Score: 1

    What police state? This makes it more likely that people will route all their traffic through encrypted tunnels to VPNs. This makes surveillance more complicated. Any additional to cyclotomic complexity of the traffic increases the expense of surveillance. So this actually would force more people in the US to complicate the job of surveilling people in the US. That doesn't sound like a push towards a police state.

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  28. Re:Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a mor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Internet information helps the opposition more than the incumbent really. The core of voters statistically is not politically active enough to follow every player unless they're particularly upset, and this guy has won re-election by >60% every time when he is even opposed. The internet doesn't keep this guy employed, momentum does.

  29. Hey... by the same token... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nobody's got to use electricity, cars, or indoor plumbing either.

  30. The man has a point by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    Sensenbrenner being a good Amish name.

  31. The West Wing: by magusxxx · · Score: 2

    "I love it how Republicans want smaller government just big enough to fit in our bedrooms." - West Wing

    --
    Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
  32. Re:Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a mor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Things didn't get better when a young black man was elected president. What's your point then?

    I suggest you take your racist and ageist notions and shove them up your ass. It's more effective than what you're proposing.

  33. Re:I dare him not to use the internet for a month by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. Drawing money for a month before the experiment start as most banks use internet technology to contact their branches. (Yes might be secured but still TCP/IP)

    All Tcp/IP is NOT Internet (lease lines).

    2. You cannot buy from certain stores because they use internet
    technology to update store details and order new stock.

    Sure, stores that are not ACTUAL stores are not accessible is i problem to no one.

    3. You cannot even send a letter or receive a letter because I can promise you the systems that sort your mail are connected to the internet in some way. (Uses network technology)

    All letters are physical. I believe you refer to email.

    4. In some buildings you will not be able to use elevators so walk up the stairs as they monitor the lifts via internet connections.

    Actual 100% bullshit.

    5. You cannot watch TV because the TV stations use internet connections to build their news and even news papers become problematic.

    Who watches TV (grandpa!)?

    6. You cannot use a phone because even landline phones these day at some stage pass through internet connected devices.

    Once again, leased lines != Internet.

    7. Oops cannot use electricity from electricity grid, even the solar panel controler is that you use at your home might be connected to the internet.

    99% of the systems that monitor your local consumption does NOT use the internet.

    So yes it is absolutely possible to not use the internet. But you will have to live somewhere in a forest somewhere.

    Apart from you being wrong you also point out the problem, with current society. We are getting vulnerable due to centralized systems and fucked up communication system,es.

  34. Actually factually false by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Telephones used to not use the internet - now even landlines have been moved to the internet by the carriers.

    I only WISH I could get a non-"smart" TV any more.

    Those pervasive cameras? They are internet based.

    And the government is actually mandating I pay taxes by internet; if there is any option it is well hidden.

    I could go on of course, but the idea that "choice" remains is FALSE. This legislator should be kicked out on his ass for being such an ignoramus.

    You do not have a choice about being "on" the internet anymore. That was taken -- by fraud and worse in many cases.

    And that is even before getting into the question of how to lead a normal life, with a normal job, in a normal community anymore.

  35. At some point you've got to ask yourself by rsilvergun · · Score: 2, Interesting

    why anyone still votes for the GOP? Religion? Are the Tax Cuts worth it? And no, the other side isn't as bad. This last disaster passed along party lines.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:At some point you've got to ask yourself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Hillary Clinton

    2. Re:At some point you've got to ask yourself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow... I had to read down so many posts before I ran into somebody making this political. Well I got my exercise in for the day. This isn't about what party you are in. This isn't about what party this zombie is in. This is about epically uniformed politicians that cannot fathom technology beyond the pager. This is the basis for a solid argument about term limits for congress and the senate. There are many dinosaurs in every party.... we just need the ability to send them a message that their lack of understanding of modern-day tech issues concerns us and if they don't response... we will.

      Peace out.

    3. Re:At some point you've got to ask yourself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      No, it's about party, because almost all votes are along party lines, 99% of our congress does not vote based on their knowledge and opinion, they vote how their party leader tells them to vote. They could all understand and think it's a bad idea, but if the party leader is for it...

      Take this vote specifically, The final vote was 215-205, with nine members not voting. The Democrats voted against the resolution as a block. On the Republican side, 15 members split from their party and opposed the bill.

      Do you really believe that all democrats are informed and understand technology beyond the pager, and all but 15 republicans are dinosaurs? Or perhaps, is it more likely, that the politicians are not voting on their own, but rather as a single party, which makes everything not about facts or specific issues but about party?

    4. Re: At some point you've got to ask yourself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      its not the age thats the problem its some individuals not. eing avle to adapt and move with the times and seem to get stuck in a time capsole or something.

    5. Re:At some point you've got to ask yourself by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      It's a combination of religion and gerrymandering. People really do somehow believe that these republicans are christians, and believe any of the bullshit they say, because they are somehow allergic to viewing the voting record.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  36. Re: Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a mo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You mean middle-aged, half-black? If you want the real thing, vote for Chance the Rapper.

  37. Now you're insulting idiots. by Chas · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Exactly. How many GOVERNMENT sites are the single point of access for those services?

    Hell, my job itself REQUIRES internet connectivity.
    If I can't support my place of business' IP phone and am unable to remote into the systems of our company or our clients I DO NOT HAVE A JOB and have to try to go work at McDonalds...

    This guy is living in the fucking 60's. In a home for the developmentally disabled. On life support. In a vegetative state.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
    1. Re:Now you're insulting idiots. by dryeo · · Score: 3, Informative

      Hate to break it to you, but you need internet to get a job at McDonalds, though using the computers at the library might be good enough if they're not too locked down.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    2. Re:Now you're insulting idiots. by SeaFox · · Score: 1

      I'm guessing McDonald's discontinued those job application kiosks they had in some restaurants.

    3. Re:Now you're insulting idiots. by dryeo · · Score: 1

      Might vary by location.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
  38. You THINK? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "My job, I think, is to tell you that you have the opportunity to do it, and then you take it upon yourself to make that choice... That's what the law has been, and I think we ought to have more choices rather than fewer choices with the government controlling our everyday lives."

    So you think your job is to tell us we have a choice while you make the choice actively worse? Thank you for protecting us from this rigid government meddling in my everyday life that keeps my kids' online activity private from economic and political interests. And thank you so much for the CHOICES you're offering to us here! I had been putting my monitor out in the front window trying to share my information with the community but that has been hard, and I never had an alternative. I used to be able to talk to the telemarketers about this problem, but thanks to government meddling I lost that choice.

    Sometimes I think the biggest problem with our system is that I'm not your constituent so I can't do anything about you, yet you are allowed to take up that seat and do a job that you don't understand, and actively make my life just a little bit worse.

  39. Billions and billions by quonset · · Score: 4, Informative

    Internet companies have invested an awful lot of money in having almost universal service now.

    Yes, those billions of taxpayer dollars given to them during the Clinton administration, and the billions more in tax breaks and what amounts to effective monopolies, is a lot of money being spent by the end users. It's so much money, ISPs have to be reminded they can't spend taxpayer money on booze and trips to Disney World.

    As we saw recently, the taxpayers keep being told they have to hand over their money to these private companies for. . . well, no one's really sure since neither service or accessibility has been increased in many places.

  40. now that i am getting older by FudRucker · · Score: 1

    and when i finally retire and my income gets cut by 75% i will drop the internet and my cellphone and rely on the us post office for all my communication (if i can afford a postage stamp) and we will see how well i can get along without those technologies

    --
    Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
  41. My name is Nobody... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... and I've got to use the Internet.

  42. Re:Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a mor by Kohath · · Score: 1

    This is an uninformed comment. Congressmen in safe districts don't need the Internet to get reelected. People vote based on party.

  43. Typical by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Typical elderly know nothing lunatic Republican who sold out a long time ago. Fucking pathetic. Like the vast majority of Republicans. I bet you right wing scumbags are proud of this loser!!!

  44. He's a Congressman by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    He can go as long as he wants without using the Internet - all he has to do is ask his staff to do everything for him.

  45. Re:Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a mor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You should put down the hater-ade and be more understanding and tolerant of your fellow Americans (or your fellow humans if you're not American).

  46. Uh... by 101percent · · Score: 2

    To say companies built the INTERNET is stupid. It goes back to military and academia and carried forth largely by disinterested idealists who made things like GNU, liberated BSD, cypherpunks, netscape, even people creating languages like perl and php. I know this guy is just ignorant, but it is infuriating mostly since youth aren't even aware of these things.

  47. Re:Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a mor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    As long as old white men like him keep getting elected into office, things will never get better.

    Yeah fuck white people! Lets put some burning crosses on their lawns.

  48. Re:Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a mor by Scarletdown · · Score: 3, Funny

    As long as old white men like him keep getting elected into office, things will never get better.

    Yeah fuck white people! Lets put some burning crosses on their lawns.

    No no no. You got it wrong. It is the rich we are supposed to hate; and you burn a lower case t on their lawn as a sign that it is time to leave.

    And if that fails, dress up as the thing rich folk are most scared of, ghosts.

    --
    This space unintentionally left blank.
  49. On behalf of Republicans everywhere by raymorris · · Score: 4, Insightful

    On behalf of Republicans everywhere, I'd like to apologize for the fact that our party includes some idiots like this congressman. We're working on replacing these fools.

    As someone else mentioned, this guy has been in elected office since the 1960s (longer even than Hill & Billy), and he doesn't seem to have a clue about what's going on in the real world in the 21st century.

    1. Re:On behalf of Republicans everywhere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No you're not. Voters never fucking learn

    2. Re:On behalf of Republicans everywhere by Jason+Levine · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Coming from someone who usually votes Democrat, I wish you luck. I really want there to be a second party that has a chance to sway my vote. There is plenty wrong with the Democrat party that I'd love to see fixed, but right now voting for a Republican candidate is a non-starter. If the GOP would ditch the anti-science and pro-Christianity views, it could turn into a party that I might actually support. That would ensure actual competition in the political parties in the races (as in "here are two different but viable plans for improving our future") and might also result in cooperation between the two parties after elections.

      Here's hoping the crazy wing of the GOP gets spun off into oblivion before the "sane Republicans" go extinct.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    3. Re: On behalf of Republicans everywhere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      apology accepted :)

    4. Re:On behalf of Republicans everywhere by whoever57 · · Score: 1, Informative

      On behalf of Republicans everywhere, I'd like to apologize for the fact that our party includes some idiots like this congressman. We're working on replacing these fools.

      You are in denial. The "idiots" are the Republican party now, including the "useful idiots" like yourself.

      You may think that you can replace people like this congressman, but the Mercers' and Koch Brothers' money will ensure that he gets replaced by someone even more authoritarian.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    5. Re:On behalf of Republicans everywhere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The bill passed on a party line vote by nearly every single Republican and has been signed into law by Twitler. This problem runs deep in the GOP and simply isn't about this one subject, in part because even the most 'moderate' of your party's elected officials continue to support leadership who'd push this nonsense in the first place. Simply being a Republican makes you complicit.

    6. Re: On behalf of Republicans everywhere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Includes? Your fucking party is chock full of asshats

    7. Re:On behalf of Republicans everywhere by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      On behalf of Republicans everywhere, I'd like to apologize for the fact that our party includes some idiots like this congressman. We're working on replacing these fools.

      While those guys bother us, we're more concerned about the murderous bigots that you seem to be so fond of. Why don't you apologize for all the dipshits who voted for Cheeto Combover, while you're making apologies?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    8. Re:On behalf of Republicans everywhere by GerryGilmore · · Score: 1

      Same here. I used to vote R about half the time, till Reagan made his Faustian bargain with the theocrats. At first, it was just Tax Cuts and Old Testament exclusively, now it has morphed into a true insane asylum. Best of luck in trying to rein that in, though.

    9. Re: On behalf of Republicans everywhere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Replicants are not sorry. What they are is racist, they hate women, they hate anything that good for America. Bunch of rejects. May they rot in HELL!

  50. Red herring by loonycyborg · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It doesn't matter whether you have to use internet or not. It's like arguing against equipping cars with safety belts because you don't have to use cars.

    1. Re:Red herring by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      It doesn't matter whether you have to use internet or not. It's like arguing against equipping cars with safety belts because you don't have to use cars.

      It's the same argument they use to justify sexually abusing people before they'll let them on a plane. Well, you could have taken a car, sucker! Now bend over.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  51. Re: Amazing how Republicans talk out of both sides by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That depends on how secure the vpn provider is. If the listing device are placed in it's network and the government have access to it's logs it doesn't make any difference at all.

  52. So who is paying him to say that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who are the puppetmaster being this stupid old man ? My bet is on ISPs lobbying groups. The same ones who claim that treating the internet as a utility would essentially kill it instead of, you know, improving it.

  53. Wrong: the internet flourished without advertising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    And the thing is that if you start regulating the Internet like a utility, if we did that right at the beginning, we would have no Internet

    This claim is patently false. The distinguished congressman should strive to get his facts from more sources than just the lobbyists that are paid to persuade him to a certain perspective.

    I was involved with internet comunications early on, and by the early 80's the internet was successfully moving into widespread commercial use. The "internet" was a collection of cooperating private and public funded networks that provided a single function: moving packets from one IP address to another. In the 80's, and both before and after for a good while, this collection of networks that together provided the "internet" took no action outside what one would expect of a "utility" service. There was no need to consider regulation like a utility because these companies were self regulating.

    No, the problem is now that these companies want to extract additional revenue from the data they carry by LOOKING AT IT and then either making weighted decisions based on that information, or outright SELLING IT. When this starts happening, reasonable people start to cry foul, and THEN you have the issue of regulation come up as one method to solve the problem.

    I'm not sure how rational people can justify this mindset. We pay our ISP to move packets from our IP address to others, and vice versa. This is no different conceptually than placing calls on the telephone network, or sending letters via the postal service. Phone companies and the postal service cannot, without a warrant, allow access to the communications and letters they transport. It is also illegal for third parties to intercept and 'read' these communications. So why then do we think it is in the best interests of our population to NOT have similar protections when we pay our ISPs to move packets of our information around?

  54. Re:I dare him not to use the internet for a month by dgatwood · · Score: 1

    1. Drawing money for a month before the experiment start as most banks use internet technology to contact their branches. (Yes might be secured but still TCP/IP)

    All Tcp/IP is NOT Internet (lease lines).

    Realistically, most point-to-point connections are virtual these days, encapsulated over the public Internet via a VPN tunnel. Yes, you can get physical leased lines, but why would you bother?

    2. You cannot buy from certain stores because they use internet technology to update store details and order new stock.

    Sure, stores that are not ACTUAL stores are not accessible is i problem to no one.

    Your local grocery store uses the Internet to coordinate how much of each kind of produce it receives. To truly avoid the Internet, you would literally have to be a farmer and grow all your own food.

    3. You cannot even send a letter or receive a letter because I can promise you the systems that sort your mail are connected to the internet in some way. (Uses network technology)

    All letters are physical. I believe you refer to email.

    Nope. The systems that sort your mail also upload metadata about every letter to centralized systems for logistics purposes so that they know how many long-haul trucks need to roll from point A to point B (and for law enforcement reasons).

    4. In some buildings you will not be able to use elevators so walk up the stairs as they monitor the lifts via internet connections.

    Actual 100% bullshit.

    Actual 100% reality. At a bare minimum, those security cameras in the elevator are likely to be Internet-connected (or at least Intranet with some sort of gateway to the Internet). And in some cases, so are the monitoring systems that watch for malfunctions, plus the HVAC systems that provide heat and cooling in modern buildings, etc. We truly live in a connected world.

    6. You cannot use a phone because even landline phones these day at some stage pass through internet connected devices.

    Once again, leased lines != Internet.

    I think the original poster was talking about the very real risk of receiving a phone call from a VoIP user. (And worse, most of them are fraudulent scammers faking local phone numbers. But I digress.)

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  55. ignorant shitkicker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nobody's got to use the Internet

    Look! Another ignorant shitkicker is congress!

  56. thats a bad arguement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    nobody needs to do a lot of things but just provide neccesities basically eating and sleeping.

  57. Re: Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a mo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not if he can't register to run for office properly.

    Besides, Wisconsin is being degerrymandered next year. Whole state government will be purged, then the federal.

  58. What planet are you from? by SuperKendall · · Score: 0, Troll

    What makes you think Google, Facebook etc are so keen to sell your data

    Are you an idiot? Open either site up without an ad blocker.

    while AT&T etc would never consider it

    Maybe they would and maybe they wouldn't, they haven't but the point is THAT IT IS IRRELEVANT.

    Your data is already being sold today. That horse has left the barn, someone then set the barn on fire, and that fire was thrown into another larger fire which was then doused in gasoline.

    Just like Google & Facebook, the major ISPs don't sell your data but do use it to run targeted ad networks of their own

    Case closed, even you admit it.

    You can easily avoid Google or Facebook

    EASILY meaning of course running a host of ad-blockers, turning off Javascript, and blocking all images downloads. "Easily". And such a usable web you have after you do all that! Not.

    but how do you avoid your only local broadband provider,

    It's called a VPN retard, and in fact THAT is easy. Vastly easier and less practical than trying to thwart the collective engines of Google/Facebook.

    What are you even doing on Slashdot? It's for technical people. If you at this point are not even aware of what a VPN can do GTFO.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:What planet are you from? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Are you an idiot? Open either site up without an ad blocker.

      Hahahhaha. You think selling data is the same thing to providing targeted analytics and selling a service that provides a spot on a page based on those analytics, and you have the audacity to call the GP an idiot?

      Thanks for the Sunday morning laugh. I'm sure you may have had something relevant in the rest of your post but every time I go to read it I just can't get past that first idiotic sentence.

    2. Re:What planet are you from? by Namarrgon · · Score: 1

      Case closed, even you admit it.

      You seem to be having trouble with the differences between selling data about you, and using data about you. Or maybe with reading.

      "Easily".

      Yep. Just use a browser add-on, such as this one. Most technical people know about them.

      It's called a VPN retard

      Settle down, petal. Running your PC's traffic through a VPN isn't hard, but it's still more work, expense, and expertise (and slower) than a browser add-on. And it's somewhat less easy if you want to run your entire network's traffic through one, including appliances like a Roku box etc.

      And a VPN on your phone won't prevent carrier-installed rootkits from reporting anything they like. Remember Carrier IQ, which was found to be used by AT&T and many others (yes, even Apple), and was caught capturing keystrokes and passwords, copying and sending home texts etc? AT&T bought that not long ago, so it's clearly still in use - and that's only one we know about. Plus of course your carrier logs every call you make and every cell tower your phone touches, so good luck avoiding any of that.

      And yes, all that personal data is used by AT&T to sell targeted ads on their AdWorks network, Sprint's Pinsight platform hosts other ad networks too, Verizon's is even bigger now they're buying Yahoo (plus they share your data with AOL), and Apple is no exception.

      --
      Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
  59. PATRIOT Act by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This same guy co-authored the PATRIOT Act, then said he never could have imagined that it would be abused.

  60. He's right! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No one has to use a house either. Let's bug those too!

  61. Only in effect four months? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've been really angry the last couple weeks about this rule being overturned, and wanted to see for myself what exactly congress did. I know its rare but sometimes a story circulated on the internet is missing a detail or two. I went to the source and found out this rule had only been in effect since December 2nd, 2016. I am totally in favor of this kind of privacy protection for consumers, but if its such a big deal why did it come so late in Obama's administration? All the headlines would have us believe we've had these protections for years. Also, were there other protections in place before December 2nd that remain in effect now?

  62. Authoritarian leaders make *more* rules by raymorris · · Score: 3, Informative

    > Mercers' and Koch Brothers' money will ensure that he gets replaced by someone even more authoritarian.

    So you think he'll be replaced by someone who WOULD support a law prohibiting trading services for privacy?

    "Authoritarian" means *more* rules, not fewer. This Congressman argued for fewer rules. In this particular case, the argument he made was a stupid one, but anyway it's the opposite of authoritarian. An authoritarian leader is one who seeks to impose more rules and laws. This guy argues that the internet flourished due to relatively few laws, so we shouldn't make laws unless they absolutely necessary. Precisely the opposite of authoritarianism. (And he supported his anarchist / limited government position by making a stupid argument).

    1. Re: Authoritarian leaders make *more* rules by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Authoritarian" means *more* rules, not fewer.

      No, it really doesn't. The number of rules is not a necessary component of Authoritarianism. Merely a degree of authority, no quantity.

      You may be letting your conceptual framework distort your views.

    2. Re:Authoritarian leaders make *more* rules by whoever57 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      As the AC already pointed out Authoritarianism does not necessarily mean more rules.

      But, I'll acknowledge that it was perhaps the wrong term to use in this context. Would it make you happy if I replaced "authoritarian" with "even more in thrall to the rich and powerful at the expense of 99.99% of the population"?

      "Limited government" is really just code for "a government that cannot protect its ordinary citizens".

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    3. Re: Authoritarian leaders make *more* rules by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Absolutely true. Authoritarian regimes don't want their people to follow rules or laws, they want them to follow orders. Specifically, orders from the police, or the secret police, and the dictators, and usually a bunch of hopped up bureaucrats and whoever else is in the empowered castes .

  63. Re:Wrong: the internet flourished without advertis by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I would like folks to misquote the guy as saying "no one needs to use the phone". 100 years ago users felt the phone operators were selling their data, and the robot relay dialing system was invented to get around the problem. If gov't dude complains he meant internet, not phone, you can say "what's the difference"?

    Nils K. Hammer

  64. The Internet was regulated when it started. by shess · · Score: 1

    "And the thing is that if you start regulating the Internet like a utility, if we did that right at the beginning, we would have no Internet..."

    In the beginning, the Internet was an educational system and commercial activity was HEAVILY proscribed. It worked fine. Admittedly, it wasn't the Internet we all know and love today. But IMHO his above statement is simply random ignorant speculation.

  65. Now THAT is authoritarian by raymorris · · Score: 1, Troll

    > "Limited government" is really just code for "a government that cannot protect its ordinary citizens".

    THAT is an authoritarian viewpoint, the idea that "limited government" is bad, that government control should *not* be limited. It may be right, it may be wrong, but either way it's the rallying cry of authoritarian regimes.

    > Would it make you happy if I replaced

    It would make me happy if our discussion led each of us to better understand our own beliefs and better understand the other person's viewpoint. Since you seem to say limited government is a very bad idea, would that mean you strongly support giving politicians *un*limited power, a totalitarian, autocratic, or authoritarian regime?

    Which of those three styles of non-limited government would you say you support most, a totalitarian, autocratic, or authoritarian? Perhaps dictatorial?

    1. Re:Now THAT is authoritarian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      THAT is an authoritarian viewpoint, the idea that "limited government" is bad, that government control should *not* be limited.

      Nope, it's a cynical viewpoint, the idea that "limited government" is just a means to allow exploitation of citizens, that it is hypocritical and dishonest.

      Do try to understand things a bit better.

      It may be right, it may be wrong, but either way it's the rallying cry of authoritarian regimes.

      Authoritarian regimes use a lot of rallying cries. "Peace in our time!" "Freedom! Equality! Justice!" "No more metal wire hangers!"

        In fact, a LOT of people use rallying cries.

      > Would it make you happy if I replaced

      It would make me happy if our discussion led each of us to better understand our own beliefs and better understand the other person's viewpoint. Since you seem to say limited government is a very bad idea, would that mean you strongly support giving politicians *un*limited power, a totalitarian, autocratic, or authoritarian regime?

      Which of those three styles of non-limited government would you say you support most, a totalitarian, autocratic, or authoritarian? Perhaps dictatorial?

      That isn't helping, raymorris, and you know it. Try running a little less eagerly down the rhetorical racing course, you'll be less likely to fall flat on your face.

      You know that'd make you happier as well.

    2. Re:Now THAT is authoritarian by whoever57 · · Score: 0

      The AC explained it well.

      I'll go back to my prior statement: you are just one of the "useful idiots".

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    3. Re:Now THAT is authoritarian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol, he's not a useful idiot. The guy is an authoritarian himself. He's all about traditionalism and excluding the different. Just read the guy's posting history.

  66. Kinda right, kinda wrong by TheOuterLinux · · Score: 1

    He is right in that you don't actually "need" the Internet unless you've assimilated into modern culture enough to depend on it for communication or business. Most modern needs have been created because we really aren't struggling as a species to survive like we used to and why not create and capitalize on something the next generation isn't even going to know the difference on? Current though, these "needs" are backed by peer pressured under the ever evolving guise of Social Darwinism. People have created monsters they can't destroy or leave if they wanted to. Facebook is a good example. But, he is also wrong because the United Nations called the Internet a "basic human right" not that long ago. But, the UN is a bunch of Jesus hating, commy coddling Liberals out to destroy America when you're a 73 year old republican.

  67. Re:Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a mor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're the ones who keep electing them.
    And not protesting against them.
    You complicit couchsitting dumbfucks.

  68. Re:I dare him not to use the internet for a month by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1 - not most but ALL banks clear through remote hq. internet goes down, you get no money and nothing more than a scripted "tech problems, come back later".
    2 - see 1.
    3 - yes, the usps takes pictures of the front and back of all mail and stores them forever and gives them to the nsa and lea.
    4 - no, elevators must operate without net
    5 - no, tv stations do have independant satellite and terrestrial feeds, just far far fewer of them, basically one emergency channel.
    6 - but it is private dark fiber, well, lambdas within them
    7 - bogus

  69. This has nothing to do with tech by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    This isn't 1999 (pity, if it was I could look forward the the Dreamcast launch). It's 2017. Everyone understand what websites are, that your ISP knows which ones you've been to and that the information is very, very valuable.

    Those politicians knew exactly what they were voting for or against. These people aren't morons and you're doing yourself and everyone a disservice by suggesting that they are.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  70. Republican loves them some freedom by cats-paw · · Score: 1

    " I think we ought to have more choices rather than fewer choices with the government controlling our everyday lives"

    Naturally if it's corporations attempting to control or interfere with our everyday lives, they are totally ok with that.

    hypocritical twats.

    --
    Absolute statements are never true
  71. Nobody's got to have access to healthcare either by No+Longer+an+AC · · Score: 1

    I just read an article about "telehealth" by a local health care provider. I'd link the article, but they just send me this newsletter via snail mail and it does not appear to be online.

    4 years ago they started doing this when a flood cut their patients off from services and they've been expanding it ever since. It mentions many benefits such as saving time transporting patients who may be having a stroke.

    They cite a Harris Poll which (shockingly to me) showed that 74% of millennials would prefer seeing a doctor virtually and 71% of them want to use apps to share their health data.

    The State of the Connected Patient - 2015 (Press Release)

    Download here

    (I guess you can download it, but they want your email, phone and company name first. I didn't.)

    In other news, Sensenbrenner vehemently opposed, and [is] still committed to repealing the ACA

  72. Re:Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a mor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Tell that to poor people who have to pay EXTRA to have bills / statements sent snail mail at $5 per pop. I think only 50% of the population over 65 use the internet. Some people cannot afford the $60 per month access fee. Many free access sites do not work properly with https or VPN's.

    Rich people DO NOT have to use the internet. They can use their companies or workplace computers, or pay someone else to do their electronic bidding / tweeting. Nice if you have a paid secretary as a perk of office. That USED to work until they got caught editing unflattering Wikipedia pages about themselves. They may think differently next election, when targeted WIFI connections are leaked, including contents. GOP leaks have taught them nothing.

    Some can use VPN's, except bad ISP's can do deep dive packet inspection as they have man in the middle attacks /opportunity.
    Politically interested sysadmins could do a lot of damage - those open gates are open to all. Even Judges have been caught looking at porn(for research purposes, of course)..

    Meanwhile in Britain and Australia the government has a central MYGOV portal for many interactions. Telephone contact is discouraged by 3 hour plus wait times, and by fiddling wait time statistics for a human to answer the call. And reset the time on each fabricated transfer.

    I encourage citizens to use a real letter and a real stamp to conduct simple transactions, and not supply an email or phone number for a response. No response? Send another 'I'm not voting for you because letter'.

  73. Modern voting procedures by shanen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Probably doesn't matter if they "don't have to vote for him" because his district is probably gerrymandered like so many of them are. Voters can't pick their so-called Representatives when the district boundaries have already picked the "right" voters.

    Only solution I've been able to come up with would be "guest voting" for your representative. If you feel like your vote is pointless in your own district (as for example after it's been gerrymandered 150 miles like mine), then you can pick one of the neighboring districts and vote for a representative in that district. The more they gerrymander the districts, the more they are liable to get screwed up by guest voters. Another interesting wrinkle is that third-party voters could concentrate on one district and get some Congressional so-called representation. Of course, it would never happen. Pretty certain it would require a Constitutional amendment, and even if they got the amendment, the bastards would just come up with some new cheating game.

    --
    Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
  74. Fools! by BrendaEM · · Score: 1

    I hope his everything is sold.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
  75. He's just pointing out The Unabomber Option by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    In the USA, if you wish to actually be a part of modern society, yes you really do have to use the Internet.

    You don't have to be part of modern society! Where did you get this entitled opinion? You always have The Unabomber Option, the conservatives' best friend. James Sensenbrenner is just pointing it out.

    See, no matter how villainous conservatives allow corporations to be, you can always opt out of being their victims, either by taking your business to a different company, or where that's not possible (as is usually the case with ISPs), fucking off to a shack in the woods and not participating in society, like the Unabomber did. See, it's all optional and therefore all acceptable!

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  76. Different strokes, same issues... by XSportSeeker · · Score: 2

    What this ammounts to is the same issue several politicians have: there are too many people in representative positions that are completely disconnected with reality and will rule and give justifications for their actions that are incompatible with the reality of the nation they are supposed to represent.

    If all we have are old rich white priviledged people in power, the interests that will be addressed are those of old rich white priviledged people. Of course for him Internet is something that can be optional because he doesn't care about getting a job, getting education for the modern era, dealing with everyday problems the plebs needs to, nor care for adapting himself to a modern age he has no need to care for. He can spend whatever is left of his decrepit life with family and friends he already has, spending all the money he has exploited from others and whatnot.

    Give me a job like his, a salary like his, a routine like his and a life expectancy like his and I also wouldn't care about having an Internet connection or not. It's just too sad that we have congressmen who cannot see beyond their own needs and their own personal perspectives. It's alarming how many politicians cannot get out of their own bubble to reflect on what is most important for his constituents. Corruption and lobbying aside, we're looking at bigger cultural problems here where we cannot elect people who are able to represent adequately.

    Cases like his are why culture, law and policies get pushed back to half a century ago and never progress. The rule of a priviledged minority disconnected with reality. The problem this time is that we're on the frontier of a paradigm shift, and if we can't get law and policies to follow the significant changes that are happening around us, we'll get trampled by it. This is akim to the nuclear age. We have an extremely powerful tool in our hands that is about to be misused
    and subverted by the wishes of a powerful minority because people in power have no idea of the true consequences of mishandling it.

  77. Better not think, fire ad hominem by raymorris · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    You don't know if you're supporting radically more government control of your life, or radically less - and you call *me* an idiot.

    You hate those Republicans, just like you've been told to, and dutifully call anyone who asks you what you think, or asks you TO think, a "useful idiot", then scurry away before they say something else that might cause you to accidentally think.

    I'll ask you again, do you want radically more government control, do you want politicians to have *un*limited power? Clearly you bought it when someone told you the Libertarian distrust of politicians seeking more power is stupid; is that because you trust politicians, and want to give them more power?

    I undertand it might be disconcerting for me to ask you what you think. It might be scary to stop and think for three seconds in order to answer that question. It really might be interesting to be able to answer that question, though - are you trying for radically more government control, or radically less? Or is it just about right how it is?

    1. Re:Better not think, fire ad hominem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I undertand it might be disconcerting for me to ask you what you think. It might be scary to stop and think for three seconds in order to answer that question.

      What would be scary and disconcerting would be for you to act like a person with a genuine sense of integrity and responsibility, as that would make me think that suddenly you changed from your usual empty-minded diatribes, with no apparent cause. To show a real degree of interest in some dialogue, and make amends for your errors.

      Since you haven't, however, it's merely comforting that you can remain a constant, pointing the rest of us to know what is rightful by exclusion. What a useful example you are, raymorris, so very useful. A canary in the coal mine, as it were.

      How does it feel, to be a known cause for rejection?

    2. Re:Better not think, fire ad hominem by whoever57 · · Score: 1

      If you are against "rules", please tell me why I should not come round to your house (or is it your mothers basement?) and kill you, without fear of consequences.

      In your reply, please use the context of Republican support for laws concerning what products I can grow in my garden and eat or smoke and the rollback of environmental regulations that are aimed at preventing mining and other activities from having impact on the people who live near mines and on society in general.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    3. Re:Better not think, fire ad hominem by raymorris · · Score: 3, Insightful

      > If you are against "rules"

      I didn't say I'm against rules. I haven't said anything about what I'm for or against. I just keep asking you what you think, and you keep not answering, preferring to attack. "I'm not sure" yet is a perfectly valid answer - perhaps the wisest answer, so if you're still open-minded, if you haven't decided, you can sure say that. No need to try to attack me for asking.

      For example, you just said.
      > laws concerning what products I can grow in my garden and eat or smoke

      That suggests you think legalizing marijuana is a probably a good idea. It sounds like you'd strongly agree with this statement:
      __
      Individuals have the freedom and responsibility to decide what they knowingly and voluntarily consume, and what risks they accept to their own health, finances, safety, or life.
      --

      That's the top item on the Libertarian platform.

      Yet, your sig is that Libertarians are "tards". In one sentence you advocate the same the position that is the very top of the Libertarian platform, then you immediately call them "tards".

      Have you not yet made up your mind, or are we having a bit of a communication problem? I keep asking the same question, you keep not answering. I'm not sure where to go from here if you just want to attack, attack, attack (without knowing what you're attacking), and don't want to have any discussion.

    4. Re:Better not think, fire ad hominem by whoever57 · · Score: 1

      Since you seem to say limited government is a very bad idea,

      What's really going on is that you are pushing a strawman under the guise of "trying to understand my position".

      My point was not that unlimited government was a good idea. Instead, my point was that when Republicans talk about "limited government", they don't really mean limited government: instead, they mean a government that does not have the resources to function properly.

      The world is grey, not black and white. Some rules are required, some are not. In general, I think that we should not constrain how people live their lives as long as it doesn't affect other people.

      But let's be clear: some rules represent freedoms. For example, rules that require registrars to issue marriage licenses grant the freedom to marry to certain couples.

      As technology advances, we need rules to adapt. For example, before the era of roads, we did not need rules to define which side of the road one should drive on. I think that you would agree that such rules are required now.

      So, now that I have given you my point of view, how about you answer my question.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  78. Idiot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nobody has to go outside.

  79. Harder now. Have to pick candidates, not parties by raymorris · · Score: 2

    > There is plenty wrong with the Democrat party that I'd love to see fixed, but right now voting for a Republican candidate is a non-starter.

    For me, I can't vote for a party anymore. I have to take the extra time to research the candidates - and not just glance at headlines. Both parties have some ridiculously bad candidates and a few good ones.

    > If the GOP would ditch the anti-science and pro-Christianity views, it could turn into a party that I might actually support.

    Right now I think there are three factions, or branches, in the Republican party. The Moral Majority of the Reagan years is officially gone, bankrupt and no more. The party was going much more Libertarian; now Trump supporters voted "Republican" this last time - though Trump has little in common with traditional Republicans. Grabbing them by the pussy isn't a Christian ideal. "It is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven", Christians are reminded, and a billionaire won the Republican nomination, so there's a large, decidedly non-Christian element who voted Republican in this election.

  80. Re:Harder now. Have to pick candidates, not partie by drinkypoo · · Score: 1, Insightful

    though Trump has little in common with traditional Republicans. Grabbing them by the pussy isn't a Christian ideal.

    If you think that the average republican or republican voter gives one tenth of one fuck for christian ideals, then you are a grade-A dumbfuck who cannot possibly be educated because you willfully ignore all evidence. BOMBS NOT BREAD is the republican motto. WHO WOULD JESUS BOMB? Don't take in those refugees, but BOMB THEIR COUNTRY... creating more refugees. There is nothing christian about republicans or their supporters. NOTHING.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  81. Re:Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a mor by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Let's see him coordinate his campaign without the Internet.

    You don't need the internet to do gerrymandering. It's based on census information and other studies. What, you think that guy had to campaign politically to win? Tee hee

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  82. time to shoot them... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    make use of your 2nd amendment you fucking morons...

  83. Don't have to?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just missed out on applying for a place to live... because SOMEHOW this rental company only has applications online. That's right... no paper forms... but "if you just go online and create an account with us"

    I look at the terms of service "creating an account will enable us to view your browsing habits, blah blah" yeah, no thanks.

  84. Re:Harder now. Have to pick candidates, not partie by Gr8Apes · · Score: 0

    If you think that the average republican or republican voter gives one tenth of one fuck for christian ideals, then you are a grade-A dumbfuck who cannot possibly be educated because you willfully ignore all evidence. BOMBS NOT BREAD is the republican motto. WHO WOULD JESUS BOMB? Don't take in those refugees, but BOMB THEIR COUNTRY... creating more refugees. There is nothing christian about republicans or their supporters. NOTHING.

    Except for removing health care for women and making sure they pop out all fertilized eggs in 9 months, not a day sooner, on pain of death.

    --
    The cesspool just got a check and balance.
  85. because Democrats are a shit show by Uberbah · · Score: 1, Insightful

    They backstab every part of their base - workers, unions, minorities - except for the donor class. At least Republicans will stab you in front. It's not that Republicans have increased in popularity - its that Obama and the Clintons have driven the party so far into the ground that they've lost at every level around the country. They are completely and utterly incapable of saying what they stand for besides "we're not Republicans."

    And no, the other side isn't as bad.

    You're right. The Democrats are worse. NAFTA. TPP. Gramm-Leach-Bliley. 1996 Telecom Act which means 6 companies control almost all print and broadcast media. Putting SS and Medicare cuts into federal budget proposals. Printing trillions to bail out fraudulent banks while letting those banks illegally foreclose on millions of homes. Starting a war and explicitly not asking Congress for permission first (Libya). Starting regime change to "protect Arab Spring protestors" in Libya and Syria while at the same time selling weapons to Bahrain, who were violently putting down their Arab Spring protests. Repealing the cornerstone of all civil rights, habeas corpus, with an NDAA that allows the military to detain you without warrant or trial, on American soil.

    Trump is an ugly face on an ugly system, but he's going to have to work long and hard just to catch up to the Clinton and Obama freakshows, who were pretty faces on an ugly system. But Stepford Democrats DGAF because they are willfully blind partisan tribalists.

    1. Re:because Democrats are a shit show by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those downmodding above comment can't refute it, and are exactly the kind of willfully blind partisan tribalists that Uberbah is talking about. Dems are worse because they not only are guilty of the same things the corporate boot licking Republicans are, but they also use a smokescreen of identity politics to hide behind and to shut down debate. If you dare criticize their policy or candidates you must be a racist/bigot/misogynist/etc.

      In keeping with the topic, one should bear in mind the one thing the two parties fully agree on, which is Snowden being an unpardonable traitor for exposing their illegal spying. I find that very telling.

  86. Re:He is an idiot... LIke all Politicians! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just like Obama and the Dems/Republicans had 8 years to FUCK us up like we are now. Get over it! Politicians from BOTH parties want nothing more than to FUCK the American People! Until you FLUSH the toilet in Washington - it's going to be the same SHIT every 2/4/6/8 years! It's just a matter of WHICH party is FUCKING you! Everyone just needs to be stock in Vaseline!

  87. Um... how does that protect me from my ISP by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    they literally see everything I do, as far as URLs go. I suppose there's TOR and the like, but then they know I'm using TOR. They're the gatekeepers. Like the phone company or library. Which is why we didn't let them sell that info.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  88. Consider that some people make their living depend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And that Wisconsin congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. doesn't have to be a congressman. The Internet routes around damage. Voters should too. I for one am tired of seeing FIOS surveys when I use the FIOS DNS servers. So much so I set up my own internal DNS server and have a backstop of the root DNS and Google DNS ...

  89. Re:Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a mor by chihowa · · Score: 1

    No way! Strawmen in flyover country are their outgroup and an acceptable outlet for their seething hatred and intolerance.

    --
    If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
  90. Re: Amazing how Republicans talk out of both sides by superwiz · · Score: 1

    That's entirely wrong. It increases the cyclotomic complexity of the analysis required to understand the data observed. And analysis costs grow faster than the complexity of the data analyzed.

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  91. He's right technically, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    To put it in words he should understand.

    He's correct in the same sense as "Nobody has got to drive a car".
    But unless you are really rich or out of touch, it definitely makes things simpler.

    I bet his younger (say under 50) voters feel he's a bit out of touch.
    Hope somebody puts him straight before he does some damage to something besides his reputation.

  92. Corporations Are Governments. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The problem with this argument that Government is bad is that corporations are like little governments. If government control and invasion of privacy and control are bad, than it's also bad when corporations limit choice and invade your privacy etc.

  93. Congrats on redefining "moron" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sensenbrenner is correct:
    [a] NOBODY absolutely NEEDS to be online on the internet - nobody was only a few years ago and our nation was in better shape than today.
    [b] A bunch of unelected anonymous and unaccountable government bureaucrats in Washington DC do NOT need to mandate your business relationship with your internet provider; the internet grew from nothing to what it is today without those new damned rules Obama issued as he was scurrying out of office.

    If you do not like the terms of service of your ISP, pick another ISP (that's the "free market").
    If you have no options for other ISPs you are probably trapped by local politicians who have made deals to lock-out other ISPs (get on THEM to ease right-of-way rules etc, that's "democracy").

    Complaining that the ELECTED congress tore down the undemocratic bureaucrat rules that went after ISPs (who lean more Republican in political donations) for user data issues while ignoring similar issues at Google, Apple, Facebook etc (who lean Democrat in campaign donations) is just nuts. Data mining/selling is good or bad without regard to which party's donors are being regulated, and those Obama admin rules (which were NEVER law) were blatantly political. Personally, I'd be fine with uniform rules that treated ALL personal data like medical data (as PERSONAL) but then people would have to give up on Facebook, Google etc which would die without all the billions of dollars they make from gathering and selling that data.

    If you use Facebook/Snapchat/Uber/etc and you thinke Sensenbrenner is a moron,then you're the bigger moron because you are the one willingly surrendering all the details of your life to the very companies getting the richest from it and not at all regulated by the Obama rule that was eliminated.

  94. Simple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. National security - The Democrats have a 50+ year record of always trying to sell the nation out. Every time they've been in charge since 1968 the military has ended-up far smaller and in decline with worn-out hardware and bad morale. They spend more time and money having lawyers tell soldiers when NOT to pull a trigger than they spend on actual planning for combat into which they have sent those soldiers. They praise military deserters (Bergdahl ring any bells?) while prosecuting soldiers for killing the enemy, and they all-too-often abandon men in the field.
    2. Culture - The Democrats are the party of sexual perversion, criminal hugging, infanticide, and drug abuse. In fact, they so despise the traditional American culture that they are desperately dedicated to importing Muslims into the country as fast as possible to change it.... even though that population they are importing is eager to KILL certain Democrat constituents, like gays. It seems the Democrats still believe that you must break a few eggs to make an omlet (google New York times + Stalin + massacre)
    3. Economics - The Democrats are the party of government workers' unions which are corrupt, lazy, unreformable, and racked-up trillions of dollars in unfunded pensions - most democrat-run states are in for a nightmare as the current bills come due. They are the party that is always trying to buy votes from the poor and ignorant by creating more entitlements. They are also the party that is always pushing-down wages by importing millions of illegal alien 3rd-world workers who consume hundreds of billions of dollars in education, healthcare, and welfare costs in exchange for makeing some employers (campaign contributors) richer because they are paying substandard wages. They are also the party that openly attacks entire industries and promises their lefty-base that they will put many thousands of workers out of their jobs in order to satisfy some billionare tree-hugger with a pet theory and a bunch of stupid fans.
    4. Rights - The Democrats deny that you have the right to self-defense. They also claim a woman's "right to choose" but then DEMAND that nobody has the right to choose all the rest of their healthcare. In the past few years they have begun to reject the right to free speech, and the right of free conscience. They no longer believe in free market economics, preferring instead the highly-regulated government-managed economics of Mussolini. Their behaviour has become so toxic and evil that if you put brown shirts on them, they'd be indistinguishable from the brown shirts of the 1930s: they beat-up people who disagree with them, light fires in the streets, smash windows of businesses and demand boycotts of businesses owned by people they HATE. They claim to be "anti-fascist" while actually behaving EXACTLY like fascists and supporting textbool fascism.

  95. Thanks by raymorris · · Score: 1

    Thanks for answering my question, to the extent that you did so. I still don't quite understand some of your statements which seem, to me, to be contradictory, but that's fine.

    > how about you answer my question.

    Are you referring to this question?:
    > > If you are against "rules"...

    I am in fact not against rules, including laws. In l particular, I study what I think are the most important laws - what you might call "meta laws", or some use the term "organic law" - laws which organizing a system for making laws. These are laws, or rules, about who can make laws about what, and how laws are made. The US Constitution, as amended, is an important example. Trump can't just declare new laws, there is a process, a process by which laws are made. There are well-defined limits on Trump's power and I think that's supremely important. Before Trump ran for president, I warned here on Slashdot that it was foolish to assent to Obama stretching the limits of his power, because that set precedent that would apply to President Palin or whoever came next. Now that Trump is president, I think most people agree that it's important to stand firm on the limits of presidential power.

    A rule made by the FDA or the FCC is important, but far more important, to me, are the laws about what the FDA can do and how they can do it. Does the FDA have a legitimate power to make it illegal for you to eat something from your garden? If so, where does that legitimacy come from? The FDA says their power is delegated to them from Congress. Congress claims they have powers because the powers were delegated to Congress by the states, through the Constitution. Do the states have a legitimate right to tell you what you may eat from your garden? Did the states actually delegate that power to Congress? The argument, upheld in the Wheat Cases, is that the feds were granted that power by the INTERSTATE COMMERCE clause. Note there's nothing interstate going on, and there is no commerce, when you grow something in your garden. Yet SCOTUS decided that the Washington bureaucrats can forbid you from growing your own garden, for your own consumption, because that's "regulating interstate commerce". Bullshit, I say.

    I believe that Colorado, through a vote of its citizens, can legalize marijuana. Growing your own weed is not "interstate commerce", so no, the states did not delegate to Washington the power to decide what you grow in your garden.

    Even more interesting, perhaps, are the meta-meta-laws, the laws about how Constitutional law is made. You mentioned that laws need to be changed from time to time. Minor laws can be changed with minor consequences. Important laws will have important consequences - both desired consequences and unintended consequences. Therefore the process for changing the most important law, the process for amending the Constitution, is supremely important. Changes to the Constitution (amendments) are a big deal, so they should be done carefully, and with full participation of the citizens who will hopefully be as informed as possible about these important issues.

    1. Re:Thanks by whoever57 · · Score: 1

      What you just did is to confirm that you are out of step with the party that you apparently support.

      I will reiterate what I started out with: you are in denial about the chance of replacing this congressman with someone more reasonable. Or, if not in denial, you are dissembling.

      You haven't explained how you will be able to override the effects of the money spent by the Mercers and the Koch brothers.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    2. Re:Thanks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trump can't just declare new laws, there is a process, a process by which laws are made. There are well-defined limits on Trump's power and I think that's supremely important. Before Trump ran for president, I warned here on Slashdot that it was foolish to assent to Obama stretching the limits of his power, because that set precedent that would apply to President Palin or whoever came next. Now that Trump is president, I think most people agree that it's important to stand firm on the limits of presidential power.

      Nope. What's important is to stand firm on the abuses of government which Trump and his ilk will attempt to perpetuate. Even ignoring the fact that the GOP is running wild over the government (due to the failings of the Constitution to ensure the representation of the people, both in the House, the Senate, and the Presidency, even the Supreme Court to some extent), there are more than sufficient ill-considered actions which Trump could lawfully take strictly within the most limited confines of the established Presidency to be detrimental to the country as a whole.

      The most foolish part of your lie, however, is the idea that precedent matters. Trump, like McConnell, will do what he wants, as he wants, and we will either allow it, or fight it, and you know if anyone oppose him, he'll cast it as wrongful anyway.

      He just did this weekend. And even the Cincinnati were perverted.

      I believe that Colorado, through a vote of its citizens, can legalize marijuana. Growing your own weed is not "interstate commerce", so no, the states did not delegate to Washington the power to decide what you grow in your garden.

      Good luck sending your letter to Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III.

      Even more interesting, perhaps, are the meta-meta-laws, the laws about how Constitutional law is made. You mentioned that laws need to be changed from time to time. Minor laws can be changed with minor consequences. Important laws will have important consequences - both desired consequences and unintended consequences. Therefore the process for changing the most important law, the process for amending the Constitution, is supremely important. Changes to the Constitution (amendments) are a big deal, so they should be done carefully, and with full participation of the citizens who will hopefully be as informed as possible about these important issues.

      There's already an answer to this. One with precedent in this country. No less than four times at that. Eight if you count precedents from merry old England.

  96. Koch brothers opposed Trump, called Trump "cancer" by raymorris · · Score: 2

    The intersection of money and politics is a problem. Probably an unsolvable problem for reasons that are beyond the scope of this post.

    Charles Koch compared the contest between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to being asked to choose cancer or a heart attack. He then compared Trump to Hitler https://www.theguardian.com/us...

    Yet Trump is president, having run as a Republican. Clearly the Koch brothers don't in fact pick the president, nor the republican nominee. In fact, most powerful republicans opposed Trump's nomination; the de-facto leader of the party and 3rd in the line of succession, House Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, refused to endorse or defend Trump. All the powerful people (and arguably all the well-informed people) opposed Trump, yet he's president simply because ordinary voters liked what he had to say, more than they liked Clinton or Cruz, anyway.

    A few years ago we ran a college student for city council, because we weren't happy with what some of the old fogeys on the council were doing. Our favorite word, "authoritarian" might apply to the established council. :)
      The college student won, because we voted for him, and he got under the established council-members' skin because he wouldn't play the game. Much like Bernie Sanders or Rand Paul, this college student (Jess Fields) refused to go along with the rest of the council when they weren't doing the right thing. Jess is now running for the state legislature, and we fully expect he'll win.

    If Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul can get elected to Congress, as much as they grate on the establishment, there's no reason we can't elect Jess Fields to Congress in a few years. He's a lot brighter, and representative of the people, than the idiot Congressman this article is about.

    > What you just did is to confirm that you are out of step with the party that you apparently support.

    As I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, these days I can't vote for a party, I have to spend the time to select a candidate, on their merits. As an example, for me, both Hillary and Trump seemed to be rather bad options, so I wouldn't vote for either based on party. I voted against Trump twice and against Hillary once.

    In the *primaries* I must choose whether to vote in the Republican primary, the Democrat, or the Libertarian. For reasons outside the scope of this post, I find the general platform and approach of the Democrat leadership to be repugnant, so there are few Democrats I can support. The libertarian primary isn't strategically as important (though a libertarian vote in the general can make sense), so in the primary I end up voting with the intent of trying to get the Republicans to nominate the best (least objectionable?) candidate.

    Once upon a time, before I got sick of it all, I used to call in to Conservative talk shows reminding their guests amd listeners that if conservatives support the Constitution, that means they must support the first amendment, not just the second amendment. The fourth amendment too. This because the liberals don't even pretend to value the Constitution, their shtick is ignoring ("reinterpreting") the Constitution based on how they feel from week to week. I can't make a Constitutional argument to an audience who believes the Constitution has no meaning beyond whatever their emotional gut feeling is at the moment. Again, I'm not saying conservatives follow the Constitution - I'm saying the CLAIM to. When they fail to do so, I can point out the inconsistency between their words and their actions.

  97. Re: Harder now. Have to pick candidates, not parti by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The other wing is the lunatic fringe, who are getting louder and louder. "All our problems are caused by blacks, wetbacks, Jews, and Muslims!"

    Of course, only 2 of the 4 are still "socially acceptable", but it's ugly.

  98. Re:Koch brothers opposed Trump, called Trump "canc by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This because the liberals don't even pretend to value the Constitution, their shtick is ignoring ("reinterpreting") the Constitution based on how they feel from week to week.

    Nope! What liberals recognize is that claims of adherence to a document as interpreted by Conservative demagogues are nothing more than excuses to actually ignore morality and rectitude by cloaking it in the false authority of some revered individuals or other entity.

    This comes from history, with Dred Scott, Cruikshank, Lochner, and other writings that were actually tortured out of the Constitution by unscrupulous zealots pursuing their own conservative agenda. Not to mention the numerous others actions of conservatives to continue their practice of abhorrent processes of slavery, segregation, the extermination of the Native Tribes, their biased immigration policies, and even their society-crushing War on Drugs.

    And in advance, or retrospective, if you wrote without reading this far, do spare us your partisan aggrandizement, it's a false narrative.

    I can't make a Constitutional argument to an audience who believes the Constitution has no meaning beyond whatever their emotional gut feeling is at the moment.

    And this show why that's the root of your problem. You think that's an argument worth making. At all.

    It's the wrong argument to make, period. Liberals know that that argument is bogus, because it relies on the thinking of dead people who are no longer able to speak for themselves. You don't, because of an odd habit where you lack the responsibility of your own thinking, and somehow have gotten trapped in the indoctrination of sanctification of some purported power.

    Free yourself from that weighted chain, and realize what you would really benefit from, is a complete change of paradigm, instead of pretending the Constitution has some inherent value (which is odd, when you consider its own origins), you should recognize that the real value of any behavior comes about independent of any document, no matter what it is written on.

    Again, I'm not saying conservatives follow the Constitution - I'm saying the CLAIM to. When they fail to do so, I can point out the inconsistency between their words and their actions.

    A fruitless exercise, since they're already hypocrites who will ignore you, and you're actually pretty inept at it anyway.

    What you should be doing, instead of trying to play rhetorical games, as you are clearly wont to do, is escape from that tendency, and pursue a more viable and effective strategy of persuasion, one that is less disingenuous and more demonstrative.

    At the least, you wouldn't have the problem of harming your own interests. And you'll be happier.

  99. Re:Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. is a mor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nah, there's are legions of Republicans and a few Democrats that will still get voted in because their constituents are just as backward as they are. Texas is a prime example.

    Texas is a prime example of gerrymandering.

  100. don't know why this is still a thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If one starts a business or is an contractor the internet is REQUIRED since we no longer send out paper forms for sales tax here.

    My business is required to have Water, Power and internet to be legal now. It should now be a utility.

  101. Nobody's Got to Use a Car by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I propose that every car owned, operated or used by a congressman / women be fitted with a real time GPS locator, and this position be available in a public website. I understand there may be security issues, but congressmen / women are not forced to use cars - they can use a bus or walk instead.

  102. No internet? No Problem by n329619 · · Score: 1

    But everyone in supporting the Congressman will need to give up all their existing communication system. That includes the phone lines. The internet is at the rawest form, a communication system. Heck, we used to use phone lines to go on the internet. If he can't do it, then it is no deal.

  103. Other utilities have com about in the same way. by GESUS · · Score: 1

    All utilities where luxury once. Now they are so pervasive that we can not live normal lives without them. The internet is the same way and should go the same route.

  104. Re: vote for someone else by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who? Jack Johnson or John Jackson?

  105. Re:Koch brothers opposed Trump, called Trump "canc by whoever57 · · Score: 1

    House Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, refused to endorse or defend Trump

    Oh, really

    But back to my central point, which you diverted me from. What I think you understand by "limited government" is not the objective of the wealthy backers of the Republicans: instead, their objective is a government that is hobbled and unable to perform its primary mission. Without sufficient funds, the government cannot collect taxes allowing people (primarily the wealthy) to cheat on their taxes. Without sufficient funds, the government cannot enforce laws designed to protect the environment, to protect employees, to protect the weaker members of society, etc..

    Their idea of limited government is one that is incapable of anything except waging war and putting more money into the bank accounts of the wealthy.

    If you ran a business where you knew with absolute certainty that, if you hired more people, you would make an additional profit of 6 times the cost of hiring those people, would you hire them? If so, why does the IRS not have sufficient inspectors?

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  106. Let me just leave this here for you by raymorris · · Score: 1

    Okay so for you it's pretty much about you want to send more of our money to Washington, it sounds like. Okay. Just curious, looking at this:

    http://www.usgovernmentspendin...

    At what point is it enough? Right now the government takes 37% of your pay, and clearly that's not enough for you. How much is enough? 50%? 80%?

    FYI if you wren't aware Washington gets 37% and you get 63%, it looks something like this:
    You earn $100.
    Washington takes $7.65 and calls it FICA. (Actually they take 15.3%, but let's pretend it's only 7.65%)
    You have $92.35 left.
    Washington takes $20-$25 and calls it income taxes. You have about $70 left.
    You use the $70 to put gas in your cars. Washington takes $5.36, calling it gas tax. You earned $100 and get $65 worth of gas - Washington took the other $35.

    1. Re:Let me just leave this here for you by whoever57 · · Score: 1

      1. Did you not read? Fund the IRS properly and the government could reduce taxes and keep the same level of revenue. Why isn't this happening?

      2. The US is not highly taxed in comparison to other western democracies. Wealthy individuals and companies could pay more tax and barely notice it.

      3. The US military doesn't need to be funded to the level that it is today. Explain why it should not be cut.

      So, yes, if it takes more tax to have a society that protects more than just the wealthy, taxes could be increased.

      You cannot read that graph. It doesn't say what you think it says, and, even though my family income is probably in the top 10%, we don't pay 20-25% of our gross income in federal income taxes.

      The big, big issue that needs to be dealt with is: why does healthcare cost so much in the USA? Care to explain that one? If you want to claim it is better than in other countries, back that up with statistics on life expectancy, medical outcomes, etc..

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  107. IRS says - hundreds of millions wasted by raymorris · · Score: 1

    > Fund the IRS properly and the government could reduce taxes and keep the same level of revenue. Why isn't this happening?

    The IRS has said that what they need is $58 million to replace the software system that they use for fraud detection. I guess they know what they need.

    So Congress and the Clinton administration gave them the $58 million. Then they told the Obama administration they needed another $65 million - they had a bit of trouble managing the project. Then they needed another $50 million. That's around the time the department's own inspector general pointed out that the approach used by the new system doesn't actually work. The IRS currently estimates they'll finish the new software in 2022 - twenty-eight years after they started the project. Not that any of their projections so far have been correct, but if they manage to pull it off this time they will have spent hundreds of millions of dollars and 28 years to build a system that doesn't work, based on Windows 3.1 era software design.

    We should definitely give them another $300 million to do more of that kind of thing.

  108. Herein lies the problem! by martinfb · · Score: 1

    I have said it before, and I'll say it again:
    Way too many politicians are NOT truly qualified for the position.

    Government officials should NOT allow their own opinions to affect legislation that serves the masses.
    e.g. In this case, it is NOT exactly true that you "do not have to use the internet".
    If we truly want that option, then laws need to be in place to make those internet-only accessible things available outside of the internet.
    AND, this means MORE government regulation, not less!
    Sensenbrenner is an obviously obsolete politician.. He should man-up and step down.

    And I digress from here!

    --


    Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.