Some consider the Nation’s Capital as “Fantasyland on the Potomac”. Other outsiders are “Fed Up” with the Federal City. It's better to consider D.C. as “the District of Calamity” (sic).
Ajit Pai, a Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, has become outspoken in his objections to the political imposition of Net Neutrality by what is supposed to be an independent Federal commission.
Commissioner Pai noted that: “It’s no wonder that net neutrality proponents are already bragging that
it will turn the FCC into the “Department of the Internet. For that reason, if you like dealing with the IRS, you are going to love the President’s plan."
Many progressives have rallied around the concept of Net Neutrality thinking that it is hurting corporations and encouraging competition. What Commissioner Pai points out is that applying Title II regulation to the internet, which was designed for railroads and Ma Bell, will stifle competition and favor behemoth businesses because of the regulatory burdens.
Another alarming feature of such broad regulation by the FCC is the relative obscurity in which the rules are being cobbled together. President Obama pressured the FCC in November 2014 about Net Neutrality. Chairman Tom Wheeler, who had been a big Obama fundraiser, is complying but promises to make some changes in Title II to make it better. Oh, so a regulatory schemata which was drawn up in 1934 can be tweaked to apply to the internet age. Right. FCC Commissioner Mike O'Reilly warned the public about the dangers of forbearance as applied to Title II Common Carriers.
There is the larger issue, however, about whether Congress ceded its legislative mantle to the FCC to strictly regulate the internet. If we hold fast to living in a constitutional democratic Republic, shouldn't our elected representatives, not bureaucrats who are unaccountable to the people (or for that matter Men in Black) be crafting such momentous law?
UPDATE 01/23/2017 President Trump is poised to name Ajit Pai as Chairman of the FCC, replacing Democrat activist FCC Chair Tom Wheeler. Pai has been a critic of the Commission's impetus to impose net neutrality and thereby expand the FCC's role into regulating the Internet.
Prior to the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on the nomination of Loretta Lynch to succeed Attorney General Eric Holder, there were concerns about the independence of the A.G. nominee. During pre-testimony meetings, Senator David Vitter (R-LA) noted: “I found her responses in the conversation about executive amnesty not just frustrating . . . but sort of unbelievable.”
Loretta Lynch's appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmed this assessment. Lynch proclaimed: "[T]he Constitution, the bedrock of our system of justice, will be me lodestar." Yet during challenging question from Senate Republicans, Ms. Lynch did not voice legal concerns over President Barack Obama's Executive Action on amnesty. In fact, Lynch told Senator Jeff Sessions that she preferred everyone who is America should be able to work, regardless of their legal status.
The Senate has the Constitutional duty of Advice and Consent. Ms. Lynch's answers demonstrate that she makes no legal distinction of Executive Action on immigration. So if the Senate rubber stamps her nomination, it both validates President Obama's usurpation of the Constitution on immigration and ignores the power of check and balances. Moreover, such an Advice and Consent blank check moots the strategy of using the budgetary process to thwart abuses by the Department of Homeland Security.
If Loretta Lynch is going to be the judicial equivalent of a mini-me, why should we sell ourselves short for an Eric Holder Mini Me.
The Senate ought to reject Loretta Lynch on policy considerations. That will have the effect of Attorney General Eric Holder staying in office until a suitable replacement is found. More likely, the President will make a recess appointment when Holder wants to leave the government. But at least the Senate will not acquiese to what is forthright expressions of lawlessness.
Brian Williams has been the chief anchor and managing editor of the NBC Nightly News for ten years. The 55 year old news personality also hosted a prime time news magazine show titled "Rock Center", which tried to capitalize on NBC's identification with the Manhattan landmark Rockefeller Center. Alas, Brian Williams "Rock Center" was cancelled after two seasons in 2013 for the lack of interest.
Perhaps the memory of Rock Center not being interesting enough encouraged Brian Williams to conflate his combat zone correspondent stories. Williams original report from Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 seemed close to the truth (without revealing that William's Chinook helicopter was a half hour behind the bird under fire).
When Williams went on Late Night with David Letterman in 2013, the story had been embellished to having rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and AK47s fired at William's helicopter and the pilot getting a purple heart for a wounded ear (which never happened).
Williams revisited his war stories when paying an on the air tribute to Sgt. Major Tim Terpak who had been honored at a New York Rangers hockey game. This caused the New York Times to scrutinize Williams ever evolving escapade.
After Navy veterans who eyewitnessed the operation called Williams out in Stars and Stripes for the inaccuracies in this reportage, Brian Williams claimed that he misremembered:
“On this broadcast last week in an effort to honor and thank a veteran
who protected me and so many others following a ground-fire incident in
the desert during the Iraq War, I made a mistake in recalling the events
of 12 years ago. It didn't take long to hear from some brave men and women in the air
crews who were also in the desert. I want to apologize: I said I was
traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a
following aircraft. We all landed and spent two harrowing nights in a
sandstorm in the desert. This was a bungled attempt by me to thank one
special veteran, and by extension: our brave military men and women -
Veterans everywhere -- those who have served while I did not. I hope
they know they have my greatest respect… and also now my apology.”
Alas, veterans do not readily accept Williams half-hearted apology as a Fog of War mistake as the story had grown significantly in a dozen years. Williams Chinook story had been likened to Stolen Valor as Williams claimed to be in combat in which he was not involved.
NBC has officially refused to investigate the Chopper Whopper incident and is allowing Brian Williams to handle it himself. Presumably this is because Brian Williams has been the face of a successful NBC Nightly News operation for a decade and the network would literally and figuratively lose face by calling their star into question. Howard Kurtz analogized that NBC is treating Brian Williams as if he was too big to fail.
In response to Conflate-Gate, Williams supposedly self imposed a brief hiatus from the anchor chair, so he is not the center of the news. In other words, he is waiting for the media storm to blow over. But now that Williams is established as a self-aggrandizing reporter, he may have lost his gravitas as a truth teller.
Brian Williams coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 has been impeached. Williams claimed that he saw dead bodies floating outside of his window. Well, the Ritz Carlton is in the French Quarter, which is the highest point in New Orleans, which FEMA disputes the flooding to be low to nonexistent. Williams claimed to have gotten dysentery from drinking floodwater, but the New Orleans Advocate quotes Dr. Brobson Lutz, who was treating people near the French Quarter: “I saw a lot of people with cuts and bruises and such, but I don’t
recall a single, solitary case of gastroenteritis during Katrina or in
the whole month afterward." Three separate individuals have disputed William's claim that gangs of thugs had overrun his posh pied-de-terre in the French Quarter.
At present, Brian Williams and by extension NBC News has become the butt of jokes, questioning their credibility in truth telling. An effective internet series of memes places Brian Williams as a Zelig like figure in anachronistic poses, like being present for the lunar landings.
If Saturday Night Live were not a left leaning NBC property, it might even satirize William's tall tales. But that is not how the Lamestream Media works today.
While the furor may subside, if Williams remains as anchor at Rockefeller Center, trust in NBC may fall like a rock. In 1992, Dateline NBC aired a report "Waiting to Explode" which questioned the safety of GM's Chevy trucks. To make more dramatic television, NBC strapped incendiary devices during the crash test. After this became exposed and General Motors threatened a defamation lawsuit, then NBC News President Michael Gartner admitted to the mistake and had Jane Pauley (who had no connection to the story) give a 3 1/2 minute on air apology. In the end, Gartner and three producers lost their positions as NBC News struggled to keep their bone fides as reputable reporters.
If NBC News dared to drop anchor, there might be other roles in which Brian Williams would be the perfect person. Williams would have been perfect for 30 Rock but alas the comedy series has been cancelled. Perhaps as a correspondent for the Onion. Maybe Steven Colbert needs a jocular sidekick for his stint on CBS's Late Night.
Then there is the question of what NBC News would do to fill the empty anchor chair. When NBC was considering a replacement in October 2014 for David Gregory on Meet the Press, the execs at 30 Rock promised Daily Show comedian Jon Stewart a truckload of money to take the serious gig. Stewart declined the NBC offer by saying: "News and entertainment have melded in a way. But they would be
overcompensating on the entertainment side. That’s certainly not an
outlandish decision, although I don’t necessarily think that’s the best
direction for it.”
Jon Stewart did not want NBC News to become a joke. So what do they do now with their credibility falling like a rock?
