
The FCC Just Caved in to Republican Demands That It Halt Work on Major Issues - DodgyEggplant
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-fcc-just-caved-in-to-republican-demands-that-it-halt-work-on-major-issues
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Tomte
That sounds bad, but only until you learn that it is standard practice. In the
Bush-->Obama transition a very similar letter was sent to the FCC.

It's basically "don't do non-urgent stuff that we'd probably revoke anyway,
those two months aren't worth the hassle".

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benkarst
Agreed. This is biased media click-bait.

"Wheeler’s tenure as the nation’s top communications regulator, a period
marked by a variety of pro-consumer reforms, is coming to an end. "

Didn't Wheeler and co. try to overturn net neutrality???? The only reason they
failed is because of the outrage of millions of concerned Americans. Best
thing "Last Week Tonight" ever did was to report on that.

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guelo
Wheeler passed net neutrality, Trump's replacement will most likely do
everything they can to get rid of it. I hope you plan on expressing your
outrage. But they probably won't care.

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benkarst
Only, after he was caught trying to pass rules violating it.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wheeler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wheeler)

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guelo
This is the kind of thing that Democrats should have been talking about during
the election. Republicans are for the most part anti-consumer but they do a
good job of framing it as good for business. But everyone has a story of
Comcast ripping them off, Democrats should talk more about how good for
business really means bad for you.

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MaxfordAndSons
Thing is, I don't think people (of any partisan stripe) like to think of their
main role in the economy as being consumers, even if it's an accurate
description of >=90% of us. After all, most Americans are just temporarily
embarrassed entrepreneurs.

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ebbv
This headline is terrible. It's phrasing it as if the FCC has a choice. It
doesn't. It works at the behest of the government which has changed due to the
election.

It sucks but if you don't like it and you didn't vote Clinton it's your fault.

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shuntress
Most people (who voted) did vote Clinton.

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AnimalMuppet
Most? No.

 _Slightly more_ people who voted, voted for Clinton than for Trump. Also,
more people voted "someone other than Clinton" than voted for Clinton.

And, in fact, none of that matters. Trump carried enough states to win the
election, under the rules that governed the election.

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shuntress
Sorry, you are right. I meant that Clinton has the most votes. Not that most
people voted for Clinton.

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ceejay
The only re-assuring thing to me about this is: Pretty much anything
ridiculous the Republicans accomplish in the next 2-4 years can almost
certainly be reversed once they (purposefully or not) knock some sense back
into the American public.

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matthewmcg
The notable exception will be judicial appointments, especially Supreme Court
appointments. Lifetime tenure is a hell of a thing.

~~~
ceejay
Yes. Although it's not "that" bad if they replace Scalia with another Scalia.
We can only hope that (a) No justices die for the next 2 years, and
simultaneously (b) Republicans screw up so bad over the next 2 years the
Democrats win Congress back so they can at least "moderate" the situation over
the final 2.

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MaxfordAndSons
s\House\Senate. The Democrats have basically no chance at retaking the House
in the foreseeable future... all the red states are gerrymandered to hell,
plus you can expect voter suppression laws to keep popping up like weeds in
all them as well, with decreasing chances of them being blocked... because the
SCOTUS is tilting back to the right.

~~~
sfifs
Actually, in democracies, people do get out and vote and change rulers when
they can be made to care sufficiently.

In India where I live, I've seen time and again how state politicians who
seemingly have the administration locked up, voters intimidated through
outright thuggery, bribed with cash & liqor etc nevertheless go out and vote
them out if only the opposition puts up a credible and trustworthy alternative
who holds out a vision of improvement. Given the amount of voting booth
capturing and thuggery going on, I used to be skeptical about the democratic
process but have seen time amd again that in such situations when the
opposition is able to put up a credible leader, nothing the incumbents can do
can save them.

Kind of like Obama did in the US 8 years back.

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cagey_vet
with major policy shifts underway, consider this a freeze until it all shakes
out.

