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FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Is Under Investigation Over $3.9 Billion Media Deal
According to a report in The New York Times (Warning: source may be paywalled), Ajit Pai and the FCC approved a set of rules in 2017 to allow television broadcasters to increase the number of stations they own. Weeks after the rules were approved, Sinclair Broadcasting announced a $3.9 billion deal to buy Tribune Media. PC Gamer reports: The deal was made possible by the new set of rules, which subsequently raised some eyebrows. Notably, the FCC's inspector general is reportedly investigating if Pai and his aides abused their position by pushing for the rule changes that would make the deal possible, and timing them to benefit Sinclair. The extent of the investigation is not clear, nor is how long it will take. However, it does bring up the question of whether Pai had coordinated with Sinclair, and it could force him to publicly address the topic, which he hasn't really done up to this point.
Legislators first pushed for an investigation into this matter last November. At the time, a spokesman for the FCC representing Pai called the allegations "baseless" and alluded to it being a partisan play by those who oppose the chairman. "For many years, Chairman Pai has called on the FCC to update its media ownership regulations," the FCC spokesman said. "The chairman is sticking to his long-held views, and given the strong case for modernizing these rules, it's not surprising that those who disagree with him would prefer to do whatever they can to distract from the merits of his proposals."
Legislators first pushed for an investigation into this matter last November. At the time, a spokesman for the FCC representing Pai called the allegations "baseless" and alluded to it being a partisan play by those who oppose the chairman. "For many years, Chairman Pai has called on the FCC to update its media ownership regulations," the FCC spokesman said. "The chairman is sticking to his long-held views, and given the strong case for modernizing these rules, it's not surprising that those who disagree with him would prefer to do whatever they can to distract from the merits of his proposals."
... to see Ajit Pai in an orange jumpsuit being led off to prison in handcuffs. Maybe that would wipe the stupd shit-eating grin off his face. He is an arrogant sociopathic twat, and I would love to see justice served. But I don't expect to.
No one ever goes to jail. This country is so fucking corrupt.
Serious question: Did Donald Trump appoint anyone who isn't corrupt, tied to neo-nazis or doesn't beat women? I mean, you'd think that by accident he'd have chosen at least one person for some department who isn't crooked or in some other manner fucked up. There's been so much turnover in the administration, at some point he will run out of shitty people to appoint.
If any of you know of any member of the current administration who doesn't have the stink of corruption on them, could you please list them? I'll wait here. I really want to be proven wrong, because otherwise I'd have to accept Donald Trump as the world's greatest supervillain, and that would make me have to give him some grudging respect.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Yeah, "modernizing" a rule means forgetting what corruption led up to making the rules in the first place. Forget learning from past mistakes - corporations are better now. Less evil.