The FCC Just Caved in to Republican Demands That It Halt Work on Major Issues

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-fcc-just-caved-in-to-republican-demands-that-it-halt-work-on-major-issues

by DodgyEggplant • 10 years ago

53 35 10 years ago

motherboard.vice.com

Tomte• 10 years ago

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".

coldpie3• 10 years ago

Though republicans' stonewalling court appointments, and especially the supreme court appointment, for an entire year is unprecedented. Sadly it seems to have paid off. I guess presidents serve 3 year terms now.

code_chimp• 10 years ago

Unprecedented? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DVnkmGB6Uw

wildmusings• 10 years ago

It takes two to tango on court appointments. If the Democrats had a majority in the Senate, then Obama would have gotten his nominee.

Retric2• 10 years ago

Democrats could stall another 4 years. So, it's going to be an interesting fight.

benkarst3• 10 years ago

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.

guelo2• 10 years ago

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.

samgustin2• 10 years ago

"Didn't Wheeler and co. try to overturn net neutrality????"

You clearly do not know what you're talking about. Wheeler and his colleagues passed the strongest net neutrality protections in US history. I'd do a little more research.

dragonwriter• 10 years ago

Didn't Wheeler and co. try to overturn net neutrality?

No, Wheeler and the Democratic majority passed net neutrality, defended it in court, and when they lost passed a new (and in several respects stronger) version, based in a different legal authority than relied on for the first version.

The Last Week Tonight coverage was, as I recall, about a perceived loophole in the initial draft of the second net neutrality proposal, after the first was struck down.

ebbv• 10 years ago

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.

mudetroit• 10 years ago

It does still have a choice. While the election is done the government doesn't change until next year, specifically Jan 20 for the executive branch.

On the other hand, it is a pretty standard practice when administrations change over, same happened for Bush->Obama and Clinton->Bush.

shuntress3• 10 years ago

Most people (who voted) did vote Clinton.

AnimalMuppet• 10 years ago

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.

ceejay3• 10 years ago

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.

ceejay3• 10 years ago

I see that my comment is unpopular. For those who might care to explain (linked from the article):

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/53260835850816716...

Why do Republicans always appear to be the ones who want to burn the entire building down just because it has a leaky roof?

eli_gottlieb• 10 years ago

He says "fairness doctrine" like it's a bad thing and "conservative media" like it's not synonymous with "my own personal propaganda rags".

matthewmcg• 10 years ago

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

ceejay3• 10 years ago

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.

tzs3• 10 years ago

Supreme Court appointments can actually be effectively undone, if the party that wants to undo them can get control of both houses of Congress and the White House.

They key is that there is nothing in the Constitution that sets the size of the court. All that the Constitution requires is that there be a chief justice. The actual number is set by statute. We have nine now because that's what the statute says we should have. It has not always been nine, and there is nothing that requires it to stay nine.

If a party doesn't want to wait for current justices to retire or die in order to shift the direction of the court, it could expand the court instead and fill the new seats with its preferred justices.

guelo2• 10 years ago

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.

MaxfordAndSons2• 10 years ago

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.

cagey_vet• 10 years ago

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

The FCC Just Caved in to Republican Demands That It Halt Work on Major Issues

Related Stories