ADDENDUM
John Oliver, like other liberal comics, has been worthless in the fight to alert the public about the dangers posed by the duopoly’s imperialist agenda, and since Trump’s election, has joined the lynch mob trying to get rid of Trump by one means or another. Granted, Trump is simply awful, but he is not the cause of our enormous troubles but a virulent symptom of the cause, which is a decomposing capitalist system deepening all manner of social and political dysfunction, from endless wars to accelerating inequality and immiseration for the vast majority. In that sense he is not much worse than the Clintonites in the Democratic party, because, at the end of the day, both wings of the establishment are doing Wall Street’s bidding. The problem facing the American people and the world is systemic. We are attaching here also a report on the subject by Democracy Now! (which has semi-sold out to the empire, too), but this segment is nonetheless useful.
Keep the caveats in mind.
That said, take this episode of Oliver’s program on Net Neutrality as a plus in an otherwise squalid media horizon.
And also be sure to inspect this program.
TO CLOSE…
Join the pushback against these bastards. And do not trust the Democrats either. Hold everyone to account. Extend no credit. (We are including here a segment showing that while Trump, as noted earlier, is an undiluted disaster and a coarse buffoon, his predecessor the smooth demagog Obama was no better. See why by clicking on the button, and do not forget the lesson. When we speak of a “duopoly” problem and Democratic party betrayals, we know whereof we speak. Yes, many organizations are fighting the FCC on this issue, but they remind us of Lilliputians confronting a giant. Everyone is needed!
Click on the button below for more information and join these efforts. And do NOT forget to share!!
[bg_collapse view=”button-orange” color=”#4a4949″ icon=”eye” expand_text=”Show More” collapse_text=”Show Less” ]The following statement can be attributed to Demand Progress executive director David Segal:
“Today’s announcement from President Trump’s FCC chair Ajit Pai is outrageous, but not surprising. The announcement is outrageous because the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order, classifying internet provision under Title II, is a commonsense measure to safeguard the open internet that so many depend on and that has been upheld by the courts. Millions of Americans as well as internet companies, startups and innovators have supported the order. The order’s main opponents are large ISPs that have made it clear they want to subvert the public interest by manipulating internet traffic to benefit corporate bottom lines.
“Pai’s move is not surprising, though, because as a former lawyer for Verizon, he has demonstrated an unwavering resolve in siding with the industry that once employed him, rather than with the interests of everyday consumers and innovators. Pai’s plan to roll back Title II net neutrality protections is the latest in his litany of anti-consumer actions while serving as FCC chair under President Trump, including halting expansion of the Lifeline program that would deliver affordable broadband to more low-income Americans. Demand Progress and our two million members will fight Pai’s effort to dismantle net neutrality every step of the way, including a push to help drive over one million grassroots actions in opposition to his plan in the coming weeks.”
Obama’s betrayal (one of many). The fight for Net Neutrality is deja vu all over. We fought this battle in 2014, against the same corporate forces.
With our thanks to Gothamist.
Who Is Tom Wheeler And Why Is He Killing The Internet?
Now that net neutrality is drooping at death’s door, we’re long overdue for a closer look at Tom Wheeler, who is currently the FCC chairman, before he was a lobbyist for cellphone and cable companies. Here are some things to know:
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- Wheeler, who was nominated by President Obama last May, lobbied Congress to deregulate the cable industry in the early 1980s.
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- As the head of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association from 1992 to 2004, he oversaw a number of efforts to keep the wireless industry from being hampered with too many annoying FCC regulations.
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- He also spent a number of years heading new technology start-ups, including the first company that offered high speed data delivery for home computers.
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- He was inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame (REAL THING) in 2003, and the Cable Hall of Fame (ALSO A REAL THING) in 2009. Nirvana and Lorde did not perform at either ceremony.
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- He’s been described as a “sharp shooter” who will stick to his guns,for better or for worse. “I think that he stepped on the toes of just about every sector of industry on one thing or another,” Andy Schwartzman, a public-interest advocate and law professor at Georgetown University, told the Wall Street Journal. “His greatest asset is that he is comfortable in his own skin, and is not looking for his next job.”
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- Before getting appointed as chairman, he spent nearly a decade working as a managing director at Core Capital Partners, a venture-capital firm that invests in small technology companies.
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- He once voiced support for a merger between AT&T and T-Mobile, which was thankfully shot down by the Department of Justice.
Does it seems fishy that Obama picked someone who pushed industry deregulation to head the federal agency that regulates said industry? It does, doesn’t it. When he was nominated, an insider told Reuters that, “All of the senators in the Commerce Committee know Tom as a lobbyist who funnels funds to them, not as a stand-up guy from a regulatory agency who is able to take heat.” But it’s probably worth pointing out that Wheeler managed to drum up about $700,000 in campaign contributions to both of Obama’s presidential runs.Rewriting rules regulating net neutrality has been on the FCC’s agenda for a while now, and in January, the agency was given an opportunity to address it when a federal appeals court ruled that ISPs could charge online companies more to stream their content faster. Lobbyists for Big Cable and Communication started pushing the FCC to loosen its hand on Internet regulation, and their efforts appear to have worked. This week, the FCC announced it will permit broadband companies to charge sites for premium pipeline service, effectively creating an Internet fast-lane for the fat cat corporations, and leaving smaller sites that can’t pay in the dust.
Wheeler has argued this proposed ruling doesn’t violate the “Open Internet” laws that have kept the World Wide Web flowing so freely over the past few decades, and that broadband companies would be closely monitored to prevent “harmful conduct.” Right!
The man who appointed Wheeler, by the way, once argued that he was a strong supporter of net neutrality. From an Obama campaign speech in 2007: “What you’ve been seeing is some lobbying that says that the servers and the various portals through which you’re getting information over the Internet should be able to be gatekeepers and to charge different rates to different Web sites…. And that I think destroys one of the best things about the Internet—which is that there is this incredible equality there.”
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