Monday, December 04, 2017

The vote regarding "Net Neutrality" is coming up on December 15, 2017. Before the new year.

"Net Neutrality" is about freedom of speech and freedom of expression. It could also be said it is about Freedom to Assemble. Unfortunately, these constitutional guarantees can be temporarily interrupted by "The Greedy."

The American people need to stand up to greed and secure the freedoms guaranteed to us. One cannot forget the Trump administration is very dangerous in using propaganda while increasingly lying to the public and subverting our freedoms. The Trump White House wants to change the dialogue the American people are having with each other and their governments. 

The FCC is wrong and will have to be proven wrong to end this and bring about a permanent solution to keep the internet open and free for everyone. There is one thing Trump wants more than anything else when it comes to politics and that is control. This measure is proof of it. 

December 3, 2017
By Ryan

Reddit and net neutrality (click here)

FCC Chair AJIT - Pai’s plan to repeal net neutrality provisions (click here) and reclassify broadband providers from “common carriers” to “information services” is an unprecedented giveaway to big broadband providers and a danger to the internet. The move would mean the FCC would have almost no oversight authority over broadband providers like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T.


For years, those broadband providers have used lawsuits and agency filings to fight FCC oversight and overturn its authority to prevent net neutrality abuses. But never in those companies’ most feverish dreams did they expect an FCC chair would propose to demolish all net neutrality protections and allow ISPs to extract tolls from every business in the country.
Even industry analysts who expected the reclassification of broadband providers from Title II common carriers to Title I information services were stunned. Following Pai’s announcement, independent cable analyst Craig Moffett sent out an email to investors entitled "Shock and Awe and Net Neutrality," writing, “We've known since the election that the FCC would reverse Title II. But we never expected this. Yesterday’s FCC Draft Order on Net Neutrality went much further than we ever could've imagined in not only reversing Title II, but in dismantling virtually all of the important tenets of net neutrality itself....

December 2, 2017
By Art Raymond

...The principle of net neutrality (click here) is simple: companies that connect you to the internet must treat all content equally. In policy terms, that means the government ensures internet service providers do not block, slow, or otherwise discriminate against certain content or applications.

In the US, this policy was enshrined in the Open Internet Order in 2015, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) passed its strongest net neutrality policies to date.,,, 

...will return internet regulations to essentially (click here) the same place they were before a set of 2015 changes reclassified broadband service as a "telecommunication" function rather than an "information exchange" process.

This is significant, as the Title II classification instituted in 2015 views internet service more like a public utility and comes with a heavier set of regulatory requirements, including restricting service providers from speeding up, slowing down or blocking access to any website, content or applications.

Roger Timmerman, CEO of the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency and Utopia's executive director, said the functionality of the internet since the 2015 modifications has been a positive for both consumers and innovation companies.

"Generally, we oppose the repeal of net neutrality rules and feel it's been a good thing for consumers and competition," Timmerman said. "Lack of net neutrality is a real problem, and we forecast that these rules being lifted will lead us to a 'walled garden' scenario, where providers will be able to decide what's inside the walls and what isn't."...

Any elected official should expect to be PRIMARIED if they have committed any sexual harassment or acts against anyone else.

...In Getting Primaried, (click here) Robert G. Boatright shows that primary challenges are not becoming more frequent; they wax and wane in accordance with partisan turnover in Congress. The recent rise of primarying corresponds to the rise of national fundraising bases and new types of partisan organizations supporting candidates around the country. National fundraising efforts and interest group–supported primary challenges have garnered media attention disproportionate to their success in winning elections. Such challenges can work only if groups focus on a small number of incumbents....

This is nonsense. There is no reason for such self-righteous behavior by any man or woman.

December 4, 2017
By Melanie Mason

Sacramento lobbyist Pamela Lopez (click here) has claimed that, in 2016, Democratic Assemblyman Matt Dababneh followed her into a bathroom, masturbated in front of her and urged her to touch him. Dababneh has strongly denied the allegation.

"It was Matt Dababneh," Lopez told The Times in a November interview.

Lopez jolted the California political world seven weeks ago when she first shared her account of an encounter in Las Vegas, joining more than 140 women as they denounced in an open letter a "pervasive" culture of sexual harassment and misconduct in the state Capitol.

Lopez had not publicly accused Dababneh until Monday, when she formally filed a complaint with the Assembly and named him at a news conference. The Times had been preparing a report on her accusations against Dababneh, and sought the assemblyman’s comment late last week....

Put it into context.

Having a gambler in the White House is a problem. The question is how big of a problem will it become?

There are many aspect of "Sin City." Where there is gambling and lots of money it attracts prostitution, loan sharking and alcoholism and drugs. Will such increased gambling whereby human beings are wagered actually prove to be a benign and/or benevolent method of economics.

December 4, 2017
By David Purdum

...On Monday morning, (click here) the United States Supreme Court heard an hour of oral arguments in a case that could open the door to allowing New Jersey -- and potentially many more states -- to offer legal sports betting. A decision is expected by the end of June at the latest. Some stakeholders aren't waiting....

...Then-casino owner Donald Trump was attracting big events to town, including Mike Tyson heavyweight fights and a Wrestlemania IV in 1988.

The rise of Atlantic City's prominence as an event destination coincided with a construction boom, highlighted by the building of Trump's $1.2 billion Taj Mahal casino. It was Atlantic City's largest casino when it opened in 1990, and dubbed the "eighth wonder of the world" by its owner. But it also marked the beginning of the end of Atlantic City's first prime.

One year after the Taj Mahal opened, the business filed for Chapter 11 reorganization, according to The New York Times.

With Trump's properties struggling, construction in Atlantic City dwindled in the '90s. Gambling, however, did not. In fact, gaming revenue increased marginally year over year for the entire decade and into the new century. In 2003, the Borgata, billed as the first Las Vegas-level casino in Atlantic City, opened and energized the industry. By 2006, Atlantic City was peaking again. The 12 casinos combined to win a state-record $5.2 billion.

It's been downhill ever since....

It is not completely uncharted territory.


...Not all countries (click here) are equally enamored by gambling, though. Some nations have heavily restricted – or even banned – gambling, while others see placing bets as a major part of their way of life. So just which countries have the highest rates of gambling?
While there are different ways of measuring this, it's hard to pick a nation that's more into gambling than Australia. According to many studies, the average Australian spends more money on gambling than in any other nation – over $1,200 per adult each year. That's not that surprising when you consider that over 80% of Australian adults are said to be gamblers, which is also the highest rate in the world.
What's all the more amazing is how far ahead Australia is when compared to most of the world. A 2010 study showed that Singapore (which has two very new and successful casinos) was close behind Australia. But no other nation spends half as much per adult on gambling, with nations like Ireland, Canada and Italy all spending under $600 per adult per year on betting.
That's not to say that those in other countries aren't serious about gambling as well. In the UK, studies show that nearly 75% of adults gamble from time to time, and 85% of American adults are said to have gambled at least once in their lifetime – with 80% of them having done so in the last year....
Once in their lifetimes is hardly gambling for an American.

Percentage Americans owning their homes:

The year 2000 saw 62.8 percent of Americans owned their own home (click here). In, 2016, the percentage of Americans owning a home is 60 percent. In 1990, home ownership for Americans was 63.4 percent. In 2008 saw an American home ownership rate of 61.6 percent of Americans.


The point is that since Donald Trump came into office I am seeing a lot more payday loan type of ads on the iPhone. These are not paycheck size. They are nice tidy sums of $10,000 a shot. Americans may have financial solvency, but, the majority of that is held in their homes, cars and education.

If President Trump and his allies in Congress and elsewhere find it acceptable to increase gambling opportunities (YES, gambling and not gaming) how many Americans will continue to own their homes?

BREXIT could reverse the Ireland Peace Agreement.

December 4, 2017
By Henry Farrell

This is how Ireland voted regarding BREXIT (click here).

A couple of hours ago, (click here) the Financial Times top headline announced that “Britain and Ireland agree Brexit to border deal.” Now there’s a rather different headline: “Brexit deal falls through over Irish border dispute.” The British pound, which had jumped earlier, has now fallen from its earlier highs. Here’s what has just happened to Britain’s Brexit negotiations — and what is likely to happen next.

Britain’s decision to leave the European Union has major consequences for both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (the part of the island of Ireland still under British rule). Decades of violence were ended when Britain and Ireland negotiated a peace deal in which Britain agreed that Northern Ireland could join the republic if and when Northern Irish people wanted to; the Republic of Ireland agreed to abandon its constitutional claim to the North.

One of the key enabling conditions for this deal was that Britain and the Republic of Ireland were members of the European Union. This had already allowed them to get rid of customs posts at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It was also much easier to reach an agreement and maintain it when both countries were part of a broader political union....       

Donald Trump needs to stop lying!

President Donald Trump has a very long history of lying.

He has no room to point fingers at anyone else!

I don't believe Michael Flynn has a ruined career for pleading to lying to the FBI. There is nothing stating his career was destroyed. He may not be with the Trump White House anymore, but, there is no reason to believe such a high ranking military man has a ruined career with an FBI investigation.

The FBI did ruin Hillary Clinton's career. She would have won the Presidency, except for Comey. It is a known fact that polls dropped precipitously after Comey disrespected both the female Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Candidate Hillary Clinton.

President Trump is hideous to make such outrageous statements. He learns nothing from an administration that simply does not want to carry out his demands. A recent article stated there are many in his administration that are planning to leave. He cannot work with people no matter how they try and to realize career individuals are vital to our government is more than worrisome for the purge of people leaving.

It is one thing to have an occasional person resign to pursue other interests; it is something quite different when government employees leave in droves. The USA has a problem and it is called "TRUMP."

Is the USA resegregating or did it ever desegregate in the first place?

Are the socio-economic divides of the past still at work to continue racism, bigotry and segregation?

We know minorities in the USA have experienced a significant wealth gap for generations, is it still alive?

December 3, 2017

"The consequences of creeping racial resegregation constitute nothing less than a national crisis." (click here)

On Sept. 23, 1957, thousands of segregationists blocked nine young black students from enrolling in Little Rock Central High School, an all-white institution in the Arkansas capital. Gov. Orval Faubus ignited a nationwide crisis when he defied the Supreme Court’s landmark 1954 decision on desegregation, Brown v. Board of Education, and deployed the Arkansas National Guard to bar the students. Two days later, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered U.S. Army units to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school.

This fall marked the 60th anniversary of this pivotal moment in the history of America’s racial struggle. With the political landscape seemingly as divided as it has ever been, this moment provides an opportunity to examine the depth and contours of segregation in the nation today. Though clear advances have been made since the civil rights movement, the enactment of increasingly conservative social policies over the last half century reveals how tenuous such progress turned out to be....

Where in the world did he think it was okay?

I hear Matt "what's his name?"...Oh, yeah, Matt Lauer, is apologizing.

TOO LATE!

Assaulting, trapping, harassing and abusing women is not forgivable. Men know what it is to be shy, timid, bashful and modest no different than women. These are not foreign feelings to men, so they understand completely the violation when they are caught committing unthinkable advances. Women like to talk, become familiar and be asked to engage in a relationship of any kind. It is called respect.

I don't buy the fact there are profound character flaws in these men because they are conceited.

I think it is more than okay for women to be unforgiving. It is not being cruel or any other adjective or adverb men might attach to women that are unforgiving to inappropriate male advances. I am sure the same holds true for the LGBTQ relationships as well.

There comes a time when social mores become understood as an adult. Taking permission to disregard them because a person has attained power over others is not okay.

Memories are long and scars can be permanent. I don't know what it feels like to be trapped in a room with a man insisting on a sexual encounter, but, I can imagine how terrifying that can be.

These websites need to be scrutinized for terrorist activity.

"Morning Papers"

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

December 4, 2017
By Erin Carson

Boxed out of mainstream crowdfunding sites, (click here) hate groups have taken a new tack: They're building their own financing platforms.

Big-name internet companies moved quickly to boot neo-Nazis after violent clashes between white nationalists and protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia left three dead in August. Crowdfunding platforms, like Patreon and GoFundMe, shuttered fundraisers for far-right causes, while Apple Pay and PayPal cut off services to white nationalists and merchants selling items that promote racism, like clothes bearing Nazi symbols.

To fill the void, neo-Nazi entrepreneurs are building crowdfunding sites of their own. The websites list free speech and fighting censorship as motivation. But critics say their names -- Counter.Fund, Goyfundme and Hatreon -- underscore a darker purpose: financing hate speech.....