FCC Chairman Ajit Pai “Jokes” about Being a Verizon Shill

Megalith

Megalith

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Many have accused FCC Chairman Ajit Pai of being a telecom shill between his background as a former Verizon lawyer and his determination to ignore all public input, and now, the man himself is proving it with a satirical video that shows him planning his ascension to the FCC chairmanship with a Verizon executive in 2003. The speech was not supposed to be public, but someone managed to obtain footage of his remarks and skit.

First, I want to thank all of you for coming tonight,” he began. “After all, we only have seven more days to use the Internet,” he said, to big laughs and applause in the audience, referring to the Dec. 14 FCC meeting when he is expected to repeal net neutrality. “In collusion — I mean conclusion,” Pai said in a “Freudian slip” to wrap up his remarks. He then played a mock leaked video of him and a Verizon executive conspiring 14 years ago to eventually install himself as a puppet FCC chairman shilling for Verizon.
 
Wyodiver said:
Yeah, big surprise. It's going to take 15 to 20 years to get things sane after El Trumptardio and his minions are locked up.
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just like every administration before him. They never lock anyone up. It's all a swamp. Obama had so many crooks I lost track, Bush, Clinton... Nothing ever happens to them. It's the brotherhood.
 
Nukester said:
just like every administration before him. They never lock anyone up. It's all a swamp. Obama had so many crooks I lost track, Bush, Clinton... Nothing ever happens to them. It's the brotherhood.
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Because once a president starts a crusade, he opens Pandora's box and that president will have to fear for his life once the next president takes over. Golden rule of presidential politics. No one wants to be the first to start a new precedent of destroying the previous guy, lest what comes around goes around.
 
"Ajit Pai " ... I doubt Americans will figure it out before it's too late
 
So blatant. Yet still on the job.... Can't Congress or something remove him? He's not the President. He's an appointed person who is blatantly, how should I word it, not giving a flying fuck about anything but corporations. I get free market, this is NOT free market.
 
JackNSally said:
So blatant. Yet still on the job.... Can't Congress or something remove him? He's not the President. He's an appointed person who is blatantly, how should I word it, not giving a flying fuck about anything but corporations. I get free market, this is NOT free market.
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It doesn't matter cause Congress is full of old out of touch people. They don't listen to the people either.
 
JackNSally said:
So blatant. Yet still on the job.... Can't Congress or something remove him? He's not the President. He's an appointed person who is blatantly, how should I word it, not giving a flying fuck about anything but corporations. I get free market, this is NOT free market.
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Congress is busy paying hush money, tax pay funded of course so that your congress man/woman can act however they want. Just a reminder to all this is what we are paying for. If you earn a thousand bucks, 200 to 300 will be taken from you and your left with 700ish. We get this childish behavior from our government in return.
 
Guys, this runaway train of unfettered greed and two tiered justice will not stop. What we have been witnessing is NOT politics as usual IMO. What we see unfolding is a unprecedented "FAST BURN" Corporate Coup d'état. The Plutocrats that truly rule this country in all but official designation, are not tip-toeing any more. The 1% are on a open rampage which historically has been performed countless times throughout history when a nation state (Empire) is in "late stage" collapse. Grabbing as much as they can before the people catch on (wake up) to what they know (and have known for some time) is coming (a financial collapse WORSE than Greece's and or WW3).

I'm not a Democrat or Republican, I loathe both equally and largely for the same reasons. That said, I firmly believe we will soon "collectively" face a time that none of us will be able to retreat into our standard comforts, routines, and distractions turning a blind eye to the reckless, inhumane, depraved, $elf $erving behaviors in DC, Wall Street, and the Pentagon / CIA,FBI,NSA. At times, I'm guilty of this very thing, it's damn hard to be aware of whats REALLY going on and yet go about my daily life / routine and not be deeply effected with the burden of this knowledge / awareness. The elites, politicians, and bureaucrats will do nothing to stop the rampant Corporate looting, sweeping injustices, economic collapse, austerity, and war(s).
The share of wealth owned by the top 0.1% in the United States is approximately the same as the bottom 90%! A level of wealth income inequality (which continues to skyrocket) not seen since the days of Ancient Egypt and the Pharaoh's.

We desperately need to collectively put aside our political / ideological bias, bigotry, and racism and unite by the tens of millions or "soon" face hardships, suffering, and totalitarian fascism / violence in America the likes we have never seen before inside of a decade (given our current pace and trajectory). We need social revolution the likes of which exceed that of the 1930's. The last REAL formidable citizen organized resistance to tyranny died out in the early 1970's. We have much to accomplish and little time to do it. Our government is lost to "We the people" corrupted beyond reform at all levels of government. The naive notions of "Vote the bums out" and or "change the system from within" is a fairy tail on par with "truly" believing in the Easter Bunny @ 40 years old. We have to go around the politicians 95% of whom are (in all but official designation) "employee's" of Multinational Corporations, Elite Banks, Special Interest Groups, and the Military Industrial Complex (the REAL rulers of this country!) The aforementioned four groups are who our politicians and bureaucrats truly serve, fear, and answer to. It's long past time "We the People" took back our power...
 
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Pretty sure the wealthy think the end of the US is coming, and thy are just looking to slash and earn as much as they can before it all falls down around them. Fire sale, everything must go to the lowest bidder.
 
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Does this guy have an entire security detail that travels with him or something? I imagine quite a few people on the street would want to just randomly kick his ass.
 
Logan321 said:
Pretty sure the wealthy think the end of the US is coming, and thy are just looking to slash and earn as much as they can before it all falls down around them. Fire sale, everything must go to the lowest bidder.
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i beleive this. Rich can go where ever and be fine and or milk the third world country we will become. They win either way.
 
I joke about the truth all the time. It's fun... but when this guy does it, it isn't fun.
 
Liver said:
I wonder how many of people in this thread really understand net neutrality and the role the FCC plays.

Or are facts something that’s on a meme?
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I can honestly say that I can't separate the FUD from all the surprise "This is what the internet will look like without net neutrality" splash screens that are popping up all over. Don't have the time and I don't believe half of what gets posted anywhere anymore.
 
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Extra-Titanian said:
I can honestly say that I can't separate the FUD from all the surprise "This is what the internet will look like without net neutrality" splash screens that are popping up all over. Don't have the time and I don't believe half of what gets posted anywhere anymore.
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Agreed. Net neutrality came about in 2015, I think? I can’t tell the difference. Only difference I see now is the massive number of memes.

Edit. I have done more than a cursory level of reading on in. I have come to my own conclusion that we can’t have unlimited home plans AND no throttling. Can’t have both. That’s my over simplification, but I do know a bit more on the topic.
 
Every time he does stupid shit like this, it shows his arrogance and just makes people hate him more. It shows he doesn't take people's concerns seriously.
 
Logan321 said:
Pretty sure the wealthy think the end of the US is coming, and thy are just looking to slash and earn as much as they can before it all falls down around them. Fire sale, everything must go to the lowest bidder.
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The rich aren't doing anything differently now than they ever have. A percentage of them are generous people, and a percentage of them will continue to leverage their wealth to gather more wealth. Nobody is giving a second thought to the US one way or another.

DigitalGriffin said:
Every time he does stupid shit like this, it shows his arrogance and just makes people hate him more. It shows he doesn't take people's concerns seriously.
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Good thing for him, it doesn't matter what any citizen thinks of him.

Liver said:
Agreed. Net neutrality came about in 2015, I think? I can’t tell the difference. Only difference I see now is the massive number of memes.

Edit. I have done more than a cursory level of reading on in. I have come to my own conclusion that we can’t have unlimited home plans AND no throttling. Can’t have both. That’s my over simplification, but I do know a bit more on the topic.
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Having worked for an ISP for a number of years, the only reason we can't have both is that the ISP beasts need to be fed or they will lose their ability to please shareholders. Traditional cable TV has fed them for decades and it's going away. They need to exploit the internet and steer clear of the "dumb pipe" concept so they can monetize it. Telephone is clearly a declining commodity, so it's the only option they have. That's also the reason that their pre-neutrality behavior can't be used to predict post neutrality behavior. Desperation is the order of the day.
 
brentsg said:
Having worked for an ISP for a number of years, the only reason we can't have both is that the ISP beasts need to be fed or they will lose their ability to please shareholders. Traditional cable TV has fed them for decades and it's going away. They need to exploit the internet and steer clear of the "dumb pipe" concept so they can monetize it. Telephone is clearly a declining commodity, so it's the only option they have. That's also the reason that their pre-neutrality behavior can't be used to predict post neutrality behavior. Desperation is the order of the day.
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I read an insider article with similar sentiments. ISP's aren't to worried about the loss of cable TV because it put the Hollywood produces in control. IE: Disney mandating that they are part of standard package. Or Discovery network makes TLC, HGTV, Discovery, and History mandatory group package. Thus Hollyweird execs had power over the cable companies billing structure. If internal marketing knows people will start dropping packages at the $150 mark, and hollyweird execs have them on the hook for $130 for licensing alone, that leaves them a slim profit margin on cable tv.

With broadband internet it becomes the opposite as you can get your programming from multiple sources at any time, and the customer only pays for what they want. So prioritizing traffic (ie: Netflix/Amazon/Hulu/Sling/YouTube,Facebook) puts ISP's in control and they don't have to pay the licensing fees as the customer is paying the content providers directly. That gives them a fatter bottom line.

If Comcast has X Tb/s of bandwidth, it cost them pretty much the same if they are using 1% X Tb/s or 100% X Tb/s. The backbone processors do increase in usage which requires a bit more power, but that's hardly anything. The only reason higher bandwidth usage would cost ISP's more is because they have to install more infrastructure to support a higher bandwidth. For example if they are at 100% of the available bandwidth because everyone is streaming 5 1080p programs in their home, then obviously capacity needs to be upgraded on that node.

And I'm pretty certain Comcast is throttling my MagicJack. The F'rs
 
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Bigbacon said:
i beleive this. Rich can go where ever and be fine and or milk the third world country we will become. They win either way.
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They don't win if their money becomes worthless. Why do you think there was an actual push to real gold/silver in house?

I've honestly given up on thinking anyone in power really cares. I'm slowly doomsday prepping knowing this shit is going to hit the fan eventually.
 
JackNSally said:
I get free market, this is NOT free market.
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Correct, it is the worst iteration of capitalism, called Crony Capitalism.



Iceshot said:
Guys, this runaway train of unfettered greed and two tiered justice will not stop. What we have been witnessing is NOT politics as usual IMO. What we see unfolding is a unprecedented "FAST BURN" Corporate Coup d'état. The Plutocrats that truly rule this country in all but official designation, are not tip-toeing any more. The 1% are on a open rampage which historically has been performed countless times throughout history when a nation state (Empire) is in "late stage" collapse. Grabbing as much as they can before the people catch on (wake up) to what they know (and have known for some time) is coming (a financial collapse WORSE than Greece's and or WW3).

I'm not a Democrat or Republican, I loathe both equally and largely for the same reasons. That said, I firmly believe we will soon "collectively" face a time that none of us will be able to retreat into our standard comforts, routines, and distractions turning a blind eye to the reckless, inhumane, depraved, $elf $erving behaviors in DC, Wall Street, and the Pentagon / CIA,FBI,NSA. At times, I'm guilty of this very thing, it's damn hard to be aware of whats REALLY going on and yet go about my daily life / routine and not be deeply effected with the burden of this knowledge / awareness. The elites, politicians, and bureaucrats will do nothing to stop the rampant Corporate looting, sweeping injustices, economic collapse, austerity, and war(s).
The share of wealth owned by the top 0.1% in the United States is approximately the same as the bottom 90%! A level of wealth income inequality (which continues to skyrocket) not seen since the days of Ancient Egypt and the Pharaoh's.

We desperately need to collectively put aside our political / ideological bias, bigotry, and racism and unite by the tens of millions or "soon" face hardships, suffering, and totalitarian fascism / violence in America the likes we have never seen before inside of a decade (given our current pace and trajectory). We need social revolution the likes of which exceed that of the 1930's. The last REAL formidable citizen organized resistance to tyranny died out in the early 1970's. We have much to accomplish and little time to do it. Our government is lost to "We the people" corrupted beyond reform at all levels of government. The naive notions of "Vote the bums out" and or "change the system from within" is a fairy tail on par with "truly" believing in the Easter Bunny @ 40 years old. We have to go around the politicians 95% of whom are (in all but official designation) "employee's" of Multinational Corporations, Elite Banks, Special Interest Groups, and the Military Industrial Complex (the REAL rulers of this country!) The aforementioned four groups are who our politicians and bureaucrats truly serve, fear, and answer to. It's long past time "We the People" took back our power...
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At least 2/3's of my posts here say this over and over, but this sir is very well put! Nice shot of ice.
 
How does a satirical video prove anything? It's like you don't understand or comprehend the meaning of satire.
 
Zion Halcyon said:
How does a satirical video prove anything? It's like you don't understand or comprehend the meaning of satire.
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Something about it doesnt really feel like satire though. It just feels like a bunch of rich assholes laughing in the face of everyone while they do whatever they want. They're not joking when they act like this, they are genuinely amused that they can do it exactly as prescribed.
 
Liver said:
I think the right term is “shear’ the sheep.
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Yep, regardless of the fud, information and position of anyone you can rely on companies to monitize anything for a profit given the opportunity. Hell the fear mongering around fast and slow lanes pretty much tells me there will be, at this point their just gauging public reaction to various potential options.
 
viscountalpha said:
They don't win if their money becomes worthless. Why do you think there was an actual push to real gold/silver in house?

I've honestly given up on thinking anyone in power really cares. I'm slowly doomsday prepping knowing this shit is going to hit the fan eventually.
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i'm 35 and I expect this country to be complete third world shit by the time I'm 80 or whatever.
 
Bigbacon said:
i'm 35 and I expect this country to be complete third world shit by the time I'm 80 or whatever.
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We can't be third world... by definition.


Somehow third world became the equivalent of "crap" or something, which isn't what it means.
 
Verge said:
We can't be third world... by definition.


Somehow third world became the equivalent of "crap" or something, which isn't what it means.
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Personally, in this case I used it to imply "displaying income inequality and quality-of-life comparable to what is traditionally observed in developing economies."

But you're right: Technically, we can't ever BE a third world country. Quite frankly, though, I doubt that distinction will be of much comfort to someone whose child has died of TB... :yuck:
 
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