NRA Gives Ajit Pai 'Courage Award' and Gun For 'Saving the Internet' (arstechnica.com)

The National Rifle Association (NRA) today gave its Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award to Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. "Pai was about to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland when the award presentation seemed to catch him by surprise," reports Ars Technica. "The award is a handmade long gun that could not be brought on stage, so it will be housed in the NRA museum until Pai can receive it." From the report: "Ajit Pai, as you probably already know, saved the Internet," American Conservative Union (ACU) Executive Director Dan Schneider told the audience. The ACU is the host of CPAC; Schneider made a few more remarks praising Pai before handing the award presentation over to NRA board member Carolyn Meadows. Pai "fought to preserve your free speech rights" as a member of the FCC's Republican minority during the Obama administration, Schneider said. Pai "fought and won against all odds, but the Obama administration had some curveballs and they implemented these regulations to take over the Internet." "As soon as President Trump came into office, President Trump asked Ajit Pai to liberate the Internet and give it back to you," Schneider added. "Ajit Pai is the most courageous, heroic person that I know."

The signature achievement that helped Pai win the NRA courage award came in December when the FCC voted to eliminate net neutrality rules. The rules, which are technically still on the books for a while longer, prohibited Internet service providers from blocking and throttling lawful Internet traffic and from charging online services for prioritization. Schneider did not explain how eliminating net neutrality rules preserved anyone's "free speech rights." Right Wing Watch posted a video of the ceremony.

Comments

NRA true colors

[Anonymous Coward]

Pro white supremacist and anti-consumer. Way to make yourselves relevant.

Guns banned

[Anonymous Coward]

Why dont they allow people to take guns with them to airports?
Why dont they allow North Korea to have nukes. Whatâ(TM)s to fear? The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a nuke is good guy with a nuke.

All Hail Mesh Nets and Rifles

[NicknameUnavailable]

Literally could not get more American. Ending net neutrality means increasing incentive for people to build mesh nets, crush cable and cellphone monopolies, and make it borderline if not actually impossible to spy on people. The fact he's going to arm teachers, thereby removing the overwhelming majority of gun-free zones in the US, is fucking amazing. For the first time in my life we have a leader who is genuinely enhancing freedom and liberty instead of ceding authority to foreigners like the abomination that is the UN, and the tears of gun-grabbing practically-treasonous liberal-extremists is just icing on the cake.

Calling BS

[duke_cheetah2003]

I think this post is bull. There's NOTHING on the NRA's website about this. You'd think there would be.

Re:Double whammy.

[ChocoIncognito]

WAH WAH THE LEFT WAH WAH DEMOCRATS WAH WAH SNOWFLAKES. All you've done is stop relevant discussion by whining about the faceless evil that you call THE LEFT. Your rhetorical approach is worthless. Notice how you're the only one who believes these things actually need to be addressed? Seems to me the only snowflake present is you, as your contribution here is simply a knee-jerk partisan blame game towards the left. That's a perfect example of being hella basic in America. You'll need to step up your game if you want to address anything. Propose some ideas worth talking about, and maybe the left (meaning people that you have labeled so poorly, nothing more) would at least humor you. But your track record here is the same as most stupid Americans: Attack the symptom, ignore the cause. And the only way to fix that issue is to stop making/posting assumptions, and start asking questions. The more everyone becomes open to discussion, the more progress we'll make. And NO progress is going to happen with your approach, so pardon me while I take a nice steamy dump all over you.

Re: Yes, stick to your purpose

[diesel66]

I wish I had mod points. Slashdot has become a leftist shithole. I've been here nearly 20 years. People here used to have conversations, but now it's just propaganda for the hard-left.