Slashdot Mirror
House Democrats Tell Ajit Pai: Stop Screwing Over the Public (arstechnica.com)
slack_justyb shares a report from Ars Technica: The House Commerce Committee is "reassuming its traditional role of oversight to ensure the agency is acting in the best interest of the public and consistent with its legislative authority," Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-Penn.) said in an announcement yesterday. Pallone, Jr. and Doyle wrote a letter to Pai, saying that he has made the FCC too secretive and has repeatedly advanced the interests of corporations over consumers. They wrote: "Not only have you have failed on numerous occasions to provide Democratic members of this committee with responses to their inquiries, you have also repeatedly denied or delayed responding to legitimate information requests from the public about agency operations. These actions have denied the public of a full and fair understanding of how the FCC under your leadership has arrived at public policy decisions that impact Americans every day in communities across the country. Under your leadership, the FCC has failed repeatedly to act in the public interest and placed the interest of corporations over consumers. The FCC should be working to advance the goals of public safety, consumer protection, affordable access, and connectivity across the United States. To that end, it is incumbent upon the Committee's leadership and its members to oversee the activities of the FCC."
On Thursday this week, the Communications Subcommittee will hold a hearing about the impact of Pai's net neutrality repeal on consumers, small businesses, and free speech. Witnesses who have been invited to testify at the hearing include former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, cable industry chief lobbyist Michael Powell (who is also a former FCC chairman), and representatives of Mozilla, Free Press, and Eastern Oregon Telecom.
On Thursday this week, the Communications Subcommittee will hold a hearing about the impact of Pai's net neutrality repeal on consumers, small businesses, and free speech. Witnesses who have been invited to testify at the hearing include former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, cable industry chief lobbyist Michael Powell (who is also a former FCC chairman), and representatives of Mozilla, Free Press, and Eastern Oregon Telecom.
about time but what did you expect when you put a former verizon executive in charge.
att and verizon shold be broken up and stay broken up.
Shilling? I have never read a positive post or comment regarding Ajit Pai on slashdot. He is universally hated by anyone who is aware of his professional existence.
Will Slashdot ever again bother to pretend to be impartial journalists?
Dude, I've been here 20 years, this place has never been impartial. Always a strong left-lean with healthy doses of unixlove, windowshate and appledisdain.
It's only recently -- the past 5 or so years -- that a certain cadre of very loud right-wingnut boors have shown up.. and I fully suspect they are paid trolls. Whoever is doing the paying... get a refund, we see right through you.
You must come from some imaginary site.
The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
It's only recently -- the past 5 or so years -- that a certain cadre of very loud right-wingnut boors have shown up.
+1 for use of the word "boors."
Once he's finally booted out of the FCC he's got several cushy jobs with lots more $$$ at any of the several companies he's helped. The consumer once again is fucked, over and over and over, while the fucker is well compensated.
I felt the same way. I've been coming here for over a 12+ years and it sure seems that right wing opinions have crept up in the past several years.
sure seems that right wing opinions have crept up in the past several years.
I don't have a problem with civilized opinions from any side. What gets tiresome is what this very thread is full of, should you read it at -1 (which I do, because I'm a sucker for punishment I guess)
It's the incessant, schoolyard name-calling and stick-hurling that makes me want to line them up against the wall and give them a taste of true jack-booted, foot-stomping authoritarian firing-squad.
Seriously. If all that AC drivel name calling truly reflects America today.. we're so fucked it ain't even funny. It's not even smh funny... it's just... ugh. No intelligence. Just parroting and namecalling.
But y'know? I used to think the same of forums. This place here, this is the last that I visit. I gave up on all others. Pointless exercise.
The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
Most liberals and conservatives are not assholes. The new problem is that the left and right are being mislabeled as liberal/conservative. All of these terms have been turned on their heads.
The origin of the word Liberal is from Liberty... and today's liberals are anti-liberty to the core. Suppression of free speech, public vilification to ruin people, anti-gun rights, pro-heavy regulation... none of which sounds like liberty.
The origin of the word Conservative is "generally" to preserve what is currently already present and to not change that. Desire to change government institutions, shrink government, repeal laws, and facilitate a police states... none of which sounds like conservatism.
That said... Liberals and Conservatives can get along... if you find out that you cannot get along... then it is more likely that you belong to either the extreme right or extreme left... and there is low chance that being extreme is healthy for either you or your enemies!
It's only recently -- the past 5 or so years -- that a certain cadre of very loud right-wingnut boors have shown up.
I think it goes back further than that. My sense is that it crept up steadily post-9/11, but spiked after Barack Obama was first elected. The target shifted from him to Hillary Clinton (his presumptive successor) over the next 8 years, with "Benghazi", "but her e-mails", and "lock her up" calls from the right-wing chorus. And it spiked yet again during the lead-up to the 2016 POTUS election, I suspect with help from Russian troll-farms.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Wait, if that is your "traditional role"
Oversight
where have you been? On vacation? Too busy?
In the minority. The Republicans ran the House for the last 8 years, and were not terribly interested in oversight of the FCC.
Really? Snopes? That's your rebuttal?
Well, it's quicker than citing every single history book written on the subject.
Oh, and if you actually bother reading the Snopes article, they all but admit that yes, the Nazis were left-wing socialists
You really need to work on your literacy. The only parts that make this claim are the ones being debunked, as well as the things the NAZIs promised early in the party's history, but failed to deliver once they were actually in power. Who'd have thunk you couldn't trust NAZIs to deliver on campaign promises. (That last sentence is sarcasm BTW. Just making sure to label it since you're having trouble understanding simple English).
But since it's not written in your native language, I suppose we should give you some leeway in your inability to understand it.
It's one of the reasons why they're no longer considered a trusted fact checker by Facebook.
You got the direction backwards there. They left Facebook, not the other way around.
90% marginal tax rates?
You mean like the 1950s?
Remind me again....that was a massive economic wasteland for the US, right? It must have been from that tax rate. Why, if something else happened it might indicate a particular school of economics isn't actually based in reality.....
Legalized post-birth abortion?
Nah, that's you folks and your gun fetish. So many dead, but it'll be worth it when you get to re-enact Red Dawn. Any day now. Any day. Real soon now....
Geez, you'd think the Democrats would be forced to call their opponents "Hitler!" and "Nazis", those ideas are so fucking lame.
You need to catch up on your talking points. You're supposed to pretend the NAZIs were left-wing. Remembering that they were a right-wing party is double plus ungood.
I'm not sure they're pretending. I've met many in person, including a few fairly intelligent and well educated I really thought would know better. I think a lot of them really are that gullible and/or stupid. Or at least angry and desperate enough to believe anyone who says they'll make things better. Tell them the government is corrupt (which I think we all know), and that you're going to do something about it, you get a lot of people's attention. Then start feeding them increasingly unhinged conspiracy theories, and giving them permission to be ever-larger assholes to... basically anyone whoisn't 100% on board with your agenda... some get turned off, but the ones that stick around, they get more committed to the cause than ever, and increasing lose connection with reality. I've met some who, when confronted with video of Trump's more obviously heinous or stupid statements or actions, simply dismiss them as fakes. And once someone is convinced that the propaganda office is the only source of real news, I really don't know how you can possibly shake their faith.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
We OVERWHELMINGLY voted for the Republicans
2% is not OVERWHELMINGLY.
who gained a LOT of seats in the senate
Pre-election polls had you gaining 6 seats. You gained 4. And those 4 were quite close instead of the forecasted blow-out. The Democrats were defending twice as many seats, and many in "red" states, so we lost some. But good news! That flips in 2020, and Republicans will be defending far more seats, many in "blue" states.
Also, you seem to have forgotten that the House had the largest swing since Watergate. How'd that happen if the public OVERWHELMINGLY voted for Republicans?
Almost like it wasn't actually a Republican wave election.....
just refuse to vote for politicians who accept corporate PAC money. Look, right here's a wing of the Democratic party that does just that. They're looking to primary the corporate, Clintonion Democrats next election too.
I'm open to hearing a GOP equivalent but, well, I don't know any. Maybe folks like that jump ship to the libertarian party, IDK. Doesn't matter.
Refuse to vote for anyone who takes corporate PAC money. And vote in your primary. Your vote has orders of magnitude more power in a primary. Politicians don't fear being reelected. They _do_ fear being primaried. Show up and give'em something to be scared of again.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Honestly I think it's high time we put anonymous coward to rest. The ideal behind it is irrelevant. I can't remember a single time AC was used for legitimate whistle blowing, it's just a plaything for trolls and assholes
Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
It does not matter if opinions are "right" or "left".
It only matters if they are stupid or not. Or scientific wrong.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
I barely comment here now and I've been here with one username or another since almost the beginning.
I only occasionally bother reading the comments because most threads are so heavily loaded with right wing (hopefully) trolls that I feel like I'm reading Fox News.
The stories are still pretty good, but the conversation is shit.
Combine that with the lack of voting ability and there's really nothing left here to draw you into the comments section.
If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison
Aaaaand my point gets made for me.
Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.