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“If you like your internet …” oh F&% it, this song is played way too long [Darleen Click]

If not the FCC, then Leftists are out to use the FEC to SHUT UP!! the disagreeing and disagreeable.

Claiming that thousands of public comments condemning “dark money” in politics can’t be ignored, the Democrat-chaired Federal Election Commission on Wednesday appeared ready to open the door to new regulations on donors, bloggers and others who use the Internet to influence policy and campaigns.

During a broad FEC hearing to discuss a recent Supreme Court decision that eliminated some donor limits, proponents encouraged the agency to draw up new funding disclosure rules and require even third-party internet-based groups to reveal donors, a move that would extinguish a 2006 decision to keep the agency’s hands off the Internet. […]

Democratic Chairwoman Ann Ravel, who called the hearing, has said she wants to regulate politicking on the Internet, though she has pulled back amid a public outcry, especially among conservatives who see her move as a bid to silence center-right websites and Internet based conservative groups and news sites.

28 Replies to ““If you like your internet …” oh F&% it, this song is played way too long [Darleen Click]”

  1. Samizdat must be eliminated.

  2. McGehee says:

    I have just one question for the FEC: who’s funding the anti-“dark money” campaign?

  3. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Saw this on Instapundit: States Rise Up Against Washington

    State legislators around the country have introduced more than 200 bills aiming to nullify regulations and laws coming out of Washington, D.C., as they look to rein in the federal government.

    The legislative onslaught, which includes bills targeting federal restrictions on firearms, experimental treatments and hemp, reflects growing discord between the states and Washington, state officials say.

    [….]

    Friction between the states and the federal government dates back to the nation’s earliest days. But there has been an explosion of bills in the last year, according to the Los Angeles-based Tenth Amendment Center, which advocates for the state use of nullification to tamp down on overzealous regulation.

    Maybe in addition to that balanced budget amendemnt that’s making the rounds, the states might want to consider an amendment repealing the 17th.

  4. newrouter says:

    >Maybe in addition to that balanced budget amendemnt that’s making the rounds <

    nah if you are doing an amendment about spending: the states should take over the "debt limit". 3/4state legislatures to raise it. beats about 300 in dc to raise it.

  5. Darleen says:

    Ernst

    I stumbled across and am rewatching Ken Burns “Civil War” … my husband has never seen it.

    After the opening he said, “You know, we having one again.”

  6. You might call this one a Soft Civil War……..for now.

  7. serr8d says:

    “White policeman are killing black young folks such as women, men and children,” one of the girls said.

    Another girl said, “Mike Brown. He was shot because he didn’t do nothing. Only the police officer shot him because of his skin color.”

    We need one.

  8. dicentra says:

    Oddly enough, Glenn Beck had a dream last night that he shared today in light of the gawdawful headlines we all encountered just this morning.

    He’s near a grand old colonial home that has seen better days. It looks like it might collapse. He goes to the corner of the foundation to push up against it, to sustain it. A little boy comes to him and says, “Time for you to rest.”

    Glenn protests that he can’t, because there’s so much happening that he needs to help fix, to help take care of.

    “No, you just rest,” says the boy.

    Glenn protests some more, but eventually realized that there’s nothing he can do for the house.

    Time to rest.

    Sounds like the same place Jeff came to: the edifice is rotted away, the Republic lost (sorry, Mr. Franklin), and there’s no way for us to stop the FCC and ISIS and Obama and Putin from doing what they’re hell-bent on doing. If you’re not feeling helpless and frustrated and ready to scream lately, you’re not paying attention.

    But we’re at that point where the corruption and rot and momentum thereof must surely run its course, for there’s no force on earth can stop it now, and it’s doubtful God will step in to save us from our own stupidity — especially since we’ve known was stupidity for ages.

    We also can’t resist societal entropy forever; eventually, the garment is too threadbare to be patched. As individuals, we can shelter in place until the wave crests and the tsunami drags the weakest into the deep, but as the 50-state Republic we grew up in, our time is over.

    I’m dead sorry to witness the end during my lifetime. Progressivism could have been reversed (theoretically) maybe 70 years ago, maybe not.

    It was great while it lasted.

    La république est mort; vive la république

  9. serr8d says:

    “colonial”
    That’s Barryho’s pet peeve, his motivation for transforming us to His notion of a more perfect Unionism, where all Citizens are equally kept. For their own good, and for the betterment (or atonement) of their clan’s historical deeds or misdeeds.

    No grey areas for Barry.

  10. RI Red says:

    Imagine if the Obama presidency was compressed into six months instead of six years. Would the frogs have jumped out of the pot of suddenly boiling water?

  11. dicentra says:

    Imagine if the Obama presidency was compressed into six months instead of six years.

    Dude. The pot’s been a-simmerin’ since the Wilson administration. Were it not for us being softened up by the insidious incrementalism of the proggs, Obama would never have been elected: word of his commie tendencies would have stymied that toot sweet.

  12. RI Red says:

    ‘fraid you’re right, Di. But it would have been nice to see our Republican betters rise up in righteous indignation and smite down this tyranny. By the way, I’ve always thought “Insidious Incrementalism” would be a great name for a band.

  13. Squid says:

    If you’re not feeling helpless and frustrated and ready to scream lately, you’re not paying attention.

    Frustrated? Sure. Helpless? Hardly!

    On those days when I’m feeling that the statists and their idiot followers have me outnumbered 2-to-1, I remind myself that those odds still leave me with a hundred million allies. Then I remind myself that half the statists and their idiot followers live in metropolitan areas that will be the first to collapse, leaving that contingent too busy eating their own to come after me and mine. Then I remind myself that most of the remaining statists and their idiot followers don’t know how to change a tire or mend a sock, much less how to field-strip a rifle or field-dress a deer.

    We’re throwing ourselves into the Pit of Despair because we’re faced with a horde of idiots? Nonsense!

    I will readily admit that we were way too complacent, and way too indulgent, and so we’re paying a terrible price. But the way I see it, either the grownups step up (belatedly) and tell the mewling children that we’re cutting their allowance, or else the whole thing collapses when the money runs out anyway. Either way, I have faith that the current course will not hold (if only because it’s totally unsustainable), and that a few fundamental Truths will come back into the foreground.

    The Gods of the Copybook Headings are on MY side. And they never, ever lose.

  14. dicentra says:

    The Republican Party Is Not Your Friend

    Ya think?

    The Gods of the Copybook Headings are on MY side. And they never, ever lose.

    What odds do they give for going from Mad Max to a New American Experiment? From the French Revolution to American Renewal without going through the Terror and Napoleon (and French surrender to the Nazis and French democratic socialism and all it’s current deterioration)?

    Where’s the record of a successful society collapsing from inner corruption (as the gods predict) and then being restored to any degree of health? How’s Rome doing? Greece? Persia? Babylon? Assyria? Egypt? Britain? Belgium? Spain?

    The American Experiment was an outlier from day one. That might give us a chance or it might mean our fate is will be uniquely bad.

    We’re throwing ourselves into the Pit of Despair because we’re faced with a horde of idiots? Nonsense!

    It’s called letting the dead bury their dead. It’s called withdrawing from a battle you’ve already lost and gearing up for the next phase. It’s called not wasting your time or inner resources patching the pinholes in the hull of the Titanic.

    Acknowledging that our current course WILL lead to wreckage, as it surely must, is not the Pit of Despair: sometimes giving up on something is the most liberating, positive thing you can do.

    Fish or cut bait?

    Me, I’ma cut bait. Try to stop engaging with the Outrage of the Day, stop putting hopes in the next election, stop thinking we can turn the canoe around when the front half is already over the falls. Save my strength for battles that can be won or at least moved forward.

    Then I remind myself that most of the remaining statists and their idiot followers don’t know how to change a tire or mend a sock, much less how to field-strip a rifle or field-dress a deer.

    And they’ll just stand there and starve to death while you’re drying deer jerky in your back yard. Won’t come after ya. Won’t steal your stuff as they accuse you of hoarding. Won’t swamp any and all life rafts you might have prepared for you and yours.

    Unless there’s no means of transport from Blue states to Red, they’ll continue to screw with us, as they always do.

    What’s that you say? You’re armed? Good. I’m sure you’ll take comfort in having to shoot your neighbors because they used to make fun of preppers. Bright future, that.

    We might get to a better place eventually, but we will also pass through the fire first, and that fire will not discriminate between Red and Blue. We will lose some of ours; we will not come out of this smelling like a daisy.

    Worst, we’ll get to see what we’re really made of, whether our blog-comment bluster is worth more than just perishable pixels.

    Rebuilding the Republic (if it’s even possible) likely takes several generations, meaning that you and I will not see liberty again. I’m not looking forward to it.

  15. bgbear says:

    They never imagine themselves out of the majority.

  16. Squid says:

    Oh, you mean helpless to save the Republic? I’m totally with you there. I misread you as just throwing your hands up and giving up altogether.

    Depending on the timing, I’ll either be Up North living the Laura Ingalls Wilder Experience, or sailing between the islands, repairing people’s electronics and small diesels in exchange for tropical umbrella drinks. (I’m really hoping it’s the latter.)

    In the meantime, I’ll continue my sad little crusade to wake people up before it’s too late*. Even if I only persuade 6 or 8 people, at least I can count them as potential partners instead of potential rivals. Also, I want to make sure there’s plenty of evidence on the record for all the I Told You So that I plan to engage in. Because that’s about the only thing I have to look forward to.

    * it’s already too late.

  17. dicentra says:

    I misread you as just throwing your hands up and giving up altogether.

    Actually, I do that all the time.

    My grandma gave me a bumper-sticker once that said, “Since I gave up all hope I feel much better.”

    Trouble with giving up altogether is that the earth continues to rotate on its axis as before, the sun comes up, and then what do you do? Curl up in a ball and turn blue? Sometimes. Off yourself? Too permanent and scary.

    Trudge on?

    Yup, pretty much.

  18. McGehee says:

    Keep calm and say the hell with it.

  19. serr8d says:

    Just be a piker.

    And keep the damned thing sharp.

  20. newrouter says:

    my letter to mr. levin:

    1) no general art. v
    2) levin’s term limits (page 19 the liberty amendments)(polls @ 75% yes)(with discussion of how much of the federal gov’t to term limit)
    3) levin goes on beck to explain this art v. convention
    4) activate the texas tea party and 912 groups to petition the governor
    5) gov. abbott of texas calls special session
    6) pass this already legally vetted resolution
    7) take it to wisconsin

  21. geoffb says:

    Another slice of the salami.

    Obama was set to propose something potentially toxic to the industry: increased government access to Silicon Valley’s databases, information that their users and clients had entrusted to firms. Government needed the information, or so the argument went, to protect America from its enemies.

    In particular, Obama was going to define the standards for sharing data in exchange for a grant of legal immunity to companies from lawsuits arising from the compromise of privacy. By getting Silicon Valley onboard Obama hoped to have smoother sailing when selling the proposal to Congress. Unable to digest the entire length of salami, he was going to reduce it by slices.

    At a White House cybersecurity summit on Friday, President Obama will sign an executive order structuring the information centers it wants companies to eventually use when sharing cyber threat data with the government. Officials believe it will make their cyber proposals more enticing to lawmakers….

    These industry organizations — known as Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations (ISAOs) — don’t yet exist and the White House’s legislative proposal was short on details. It left some wondering what exactly the administration was suggesting. …

    Companies will be given legal liability protection when sharing data with ISAOs. Explicitly tying legal liability to the information centers will hopefully make the overall plan “more acceptable to the public sector and privacy and civil liberties advocates,” [White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Michael] Daniel said.

    Obama planned to put the Department of Homeland Security in charge of the entire edifice in order to gain the trust of the tech giants.

  22. McGehee says:

    Obama planned to put the Department of Homeland Security in charge of the entire edifice in order to gain the trust of the tech giants.

    Brilliant plan, dahlink — but how does it help get rid of moose and squirrel?

  23. bgbear says:

    Moose and Squirrel.

  24. geoffb says:

    Discussing the plan that the FCC has refused to let the public see Pai said, “Unfortunately it looks like the cake has been baked. President Obama gave his direction to the FCC in back in early November and lo and behold, the FCC majority has put together President Obama’s plan for Internet regulation. And it looks to be posed pass it on a 3-to-2 vote.”

    When asked if the president’s move was an “alarmingly unprecedented direct involvement,” into FCC, Pai agreed, explaining the FCC has been an independent agency since 1934, he said, “When you have a politician shortly after the midterm election deciding to direct the agency to do x, y, z and telling us he wants us to use a particular legal theory to do it you’re in uncharted territory, at least in my experience. I think compromising the independence of the agency is bad enough, but especially when it involves the government control the Internet. That is just a dangerous road for us to travel on.”

    Omelets and cakes, lots of eggs to be broken, so little time.

  25. McGehee says:

    The internet regards censorship as a network error and re-routes around it.

Comments are closed.