Free Republic

After ObamaCare turned out to be such an epic mess, a somber President Barack Obama retreated to the White House for a few days of reading and reflecting on the proper role of government. Okay, this is a vision from an alternate universe. But you’d think that confronted with the mounting evidence of government's basic incompetence, even President Obama might have some second thoughts about assigning to government tasks that were once in the purview of individual citizens. But you would be wrong. Indeed the final two years of the Obama administration will be devoted to enlarging government, despite the...

Today the FCC voted three to two to reclassify broadband Internet access as a common carrier service under Title II of the Communications Act, and forbear from the parts of the Act that aren’t necessary for net neutrality rules. This reclassification gives the FCC the authority to enact (and enforce) narrow, clear rules which will help keep the Internet the open platform it is today. As expected, the FCC’s new rules forbid ISPs from charging Internet users for special treatment on their networks. It will also reach interconnection between ISPs and transit providers or edge services, allowing the FCC to...

Dallas Mavericks owner and investor Mark Cuban predicted that proposed FCC Internet regulations will end up impacting TV and “your TV as you know it is over” on Thursday’s “Squawk Alley” on CNBC.

Federal regulators voted Thursday to impose sweeping net neutrality rules that supporters say are critical to protecting the freedom of the Internet. In a party-line 3-2 vote, the Federal Communications Commission moved to embrace an approach advocated by President Obama to treat the Web like a utility in order to prevent major companies such as Comcast or Verizon from slowing, blocking or creating “toll roads” for people’s access to the Internet. "We cannot have gatekeepers who tell us what we can and cannot do and where we can and cannot go online," said Jessica Rosenworcel, one of the FCC's three...

(CNSNews.com) -- Federal Communications Commissioner (FCC) Michael O’Rielly warned that reclassifying the Internet as a Title II utility would increase the cost of regulatory compliance, so many Americans would end up paying more for their Internet service. “There are numerous small ISPs [Internet service providers] that will be caught in a Title II trap,” O’Rielly said Tuesday in remarks to the Wireless Internet Service Providers of America (WISPA) conference in St. Louis.“Such regulation will create unnecessary burdens and costs for all small providers, including your companies, small cable providers, municipal broadband providers and others.”The FCC is set to vote today on...

(Reuters) - U.S. regulators are poised to impose the toughest rules yet on Internet service providers, aiming to ensure fair treatment of all web traffic through their networks. The Federal Communications Commission is expected Thursday to approve Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposed "net neutrality" rules, regulating broadband providers more heavily than in the past and restricting their power to control download speeds on the web, for instance by potentially giving preference to companies that can afford to pay more. The vote, expected along party lines with Democrats in favor, comes after a year of jostling between cable and telecom companies and...

Democrats on the Federal Elections Commission have begun the process of monitoring speech and press on the internet in order to supposedly tackle the issue of “too much money in politics.” The claim is that powerful corporations and rich “fat cats” are anonymously influencing elections through support of various blogs, news sites, and video publications online. The internet has turned the entire political dynamic in the United States on its head. People now have access to an unlimited wealth of information about every topic pertinent to policymaking. They don’t have to wait for an elected official or the mainstream media...

It sounds so fair and so right. Just like health care for everyone, under a plan in which "if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor." But so-called "Net neutrality," being pushed by the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, is likely another power grab that will give the federal government vast control over the Internet. Years from now, this could make the Obama administration's efforts to control banks, health care and other major components of our economy look like small potatoes. After having been "persuaded" by representatives of the White House, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler finally announced...

passport NEW YORK – A Soros-funded group arguing to replace the U.S. passport with a North American passport appears ready to take up the mantle of championing the concept of a European Union-style regional government to supersede the sovereignty of the United States, Mexico and Canada, fulfilling the dream of the late American University professor Robert Pastor. The future of the U.S. lies in North America, not in the United States as a sovereign nation, contends the New America Foundation, a Washington-based leftist think-tank with ties to Jonathan Soros, son of famed leftist billionaire George Soros.

After a spate of student misbehavior that has tarnished the reputation of Dartmouth College, its president on Thursday announced a ban on hard liquor on campus, and threatened to do away with fraternities or other groups that fail “to elevate and not denigrate the Dartmouth experience.” In a speech on the Dartmouth campus in Hanover, N.H., to students, staff and alumni, Philip J. Hanlon, the president, said the college would create new spaces for social activity as alternatives to Greek houses, give faculty members more of a role in residential life and provide students more extensive training on preventing sexual...

What do you do when you don’t have Congress? Keep the regulations coming. The Obama administration is preparing another active year of executive action in 2015, pumping out new rules and enforcing others for the first time — setting tougher standards on everything from air pollution to overtime pay to net neutrality, food safety, commercial drones, a college ratings plan and a crackdown on for-profit colleges that don’t prepare their students for well-paying jobs. There’s even going to be the first draft of a rule for organic pet food. And, of course, there will be more executive actions to move...

The "CRomnibus" government funding bill passed handily last weekend, but not before Senators Lee and Cruz had their say. In a controversial move, the two senators managed to put their colleagues on record voting for or against funding President Obama's latest unconstitutional executive power grab. Many Republican senators, however, protest too much, claiming that Lee and Cruz may have allowed the Democrats to pass a number of executive nominees because of their insistence upon making their point. As the story goes, Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had promised to adjourn the Senate after passing the CRomnibus and a couple...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: And not only that, Obama cannot give them work permits. Obama cannot hand out benefits to these people. That is appropriating money. Only the Congress can appropriate money. Only the Congress can write law that appropriates benefits. The president just can't start handing out things like this. He can't do it. Now, this action tonight, it does bring the governors into the equation, but I don't know quite how that's gonna work out yet. Only time will tell. Governor Perry, Texas, is gonna sue him. Well, how long is that gonna take? I mean, but the governors...

It was noted by someone smarter than me that if the President can now systematically choose which laws he wants to enforce and how to enforce those laws (as in Executive Amnesty), perhaps the next Republican president can do the same. Here are some examples, and I'm sure you guys can come up with more: 1) A FLAT TAX. No, we don't change our tax laws, we simply tell the IRS not to prosecute anyone that has already paid at least 20% of his income in taxes. So if a person makes $1M, and would otherwise owe $340K, now all...

Gov. Jerry Brown signed historic groundwater legislation Tuesday, imposing new rules in the Golden State that could limit how much water commercial and residential users are allowed to pump from underground aquifers — a move decades in the works, spurred this year by California’s drought. The new laws, which take effect in January, will require local government officials to ensure use of groundwater basins is sustainable, protecting underground reserves and averting other environmental damage. The regulations could have a ripple effect on thousands of farmers and ranchers across the North Coast.

On Friday, the California State Assembly outdid itself. You can always count on the leftist leaders of what is supposed to be the “people’s house” never lets a crisis go to waste. With the passage of AB 1739 (Dickinson-D), SB 1168 (Pavley-D), and SB 1319 (Pavley-D), 100 years of history was reversed. The authors painted a grim picture of California’s groundwater future. Most of what they said is true. The only problem they didn’t bother to tell you two key truths: 1.It was these same so-called leaders who give up our seat—the property owner and the farmer’s place at the...

This lawless administration plans to bypass the two-thirds requirement for Senate ratification on a climate change treaty by entering into a "politically binding" hybrid agreement to "name and shame" climate scofflaws. Apparently letting the Environmental Protection Agency run amok with regulations fulfilling candidate Obama's pledge to bankrupt the coal industry, and enact a de facto cap-and-trade regime the president couldn't get through Congress, is not enough. The man who said his nomination was the moment the seas began to recede and the planet began to heal now plans to deal the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution yet another...

Congress should use the appropriations process to reassert its authority over the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a Heritage Foundation issue brief released Tuesday.The report, written by scholar Daren Bakst, identifies three issues on which the EPA has proposed rules and regulations that exceed its authority. In all three cases, Bakst recommends that Congress prohibit the agency from using its funding to implement the proposals. (RELATED: EPA Overrides Congress, Hands Over Town to Indian Tribes)According to the report, “the EPA is using the regulatory process to require greenhouse gas emission reductions even as Congress has been unwilling to take such...

Just in time for the Fourth of July, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it has added a new regulatory weapon to its arsenal. In a Federal Register notice on July 2 titled “Administrative Wage Garnishment,” the EPA stated that by the authority of the Debt Collection Improvement Act (DCIA ) of 1996 it issued a proposed rule that “will allow the EPA to garnish non-Federal wages to collect delinquent non-tax debts owed the United States without first obtaining a court order.” According to the Treasury Department, under DCIA, such debts include “unpaid loans, overpayments or duplicate payments made...

Top Senate Democrats are sick of waiting for the House to take up comprehensive immigration reform. If Republicans don’t act in July, President Obama will, they warn. After all, he still has a pen and phone, right? Via The Hill: "We're at the end of the line," Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said Thursday during a press briefing in the Capitol. "We're not bluffing by setting a legislative deadline for them to act. "Their first job is to govern," Menendez added, "and in the absence of governing, then you see executive actions." Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) piled on. Noting that...