Free Republic

Utility commission says repricing power markets too difficult, despite recommendation that overcharges during storm be reversed The Public Utility Commission of Texas on Friday signaled it didn’t intend to reverse $16 billion in electric overcharges that an independent market monitor had flagged as stemming from the state’s weeklong blackouts. Commission Chairman Arthur C. D’Andrea said it was too difficult to reprice the energy markets and involved too many uncertainties. “It is impossible to unscramble this sort of egg,” he said. Mr. D’Andrea said there were so many hedges and private transactions outside the view of the commission that taking a...

If you’re reading the alternative media (also known as the real media) constantly, you’re probably aware of the fact that world’s tech giants are currently engaged in an unprecedented campaign of censoring free speech on their platforms. The whole thing about censoring dissenting views is as old as internet, and even older, provided there was anything prior (just kidding), but since Donald Trump got elected back in 2016, with a little help from the armies of Keks shooting memes and various red-pills right and left via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, the same corporate behemoths have decided that enough is enough,...

Twitter buried significant portions of tweets related to hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chair John Podesta in the last two months of the 2016 presidential campaign. Twitter’s systems hid 48 percent of tweets using the #DNCLeak hashtag and 25 percent of tweets using #PodestaEmails, Twitter general counsel Sean Edgett said in his written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. “Approximately one quarter (25%) of [#PodestaEmails tweets] received internal tags from our automation detection systems that hid them from searches,” Edgett said. He added that “our systems detected and hid just under half (48%)...

In response to the government's recent declarations that internet speeds of 100Mb/s should be available to "nearly all homes" in the UK, a great many might suggest that this is easier said than done. It would not be the first such bold claim, yet internet connections in many rural areas still languish at 20th-century speeds. The government's digital communications infrastructure strategy contains the intention of giving customers the "right" to a broadband connection of at least 5Mb/s in their homes. There's no clear indication of any timeline for introduction, nor what is meant by "nearly all homes" and "affordable prices"....

The interwebs are now, officially, considered a “public utility” according to the Federal Communication Commission. After two weeks, the FCC has finally released its 400 page plan to regulate the internet. (I’d say something snarky about this, but I honestly don’t know whether or not that’s still allowed… And, as a follow up: Do you really think it takes 400 pages to ensure an “open and free” internet?) Naturally, the next step would be for government to begin subsidizing internet service to potential Democrat voters low income citizens. According to the National Journal:The Federal Communications Commission plans to soon begin working...

The powers behind the FCC’s muscling of the Internet Today’s vote by a bitterly divided Federal Communications Commission that the Internet should be regulated as a public utility is the culmination of a decade-long battle by the Left. Using money from George Soros and liberal foundations that totaled at least $196 million, radical activists finally succeeded in ramming through “net neutrality,” or the idea that all data should be transmitted equally over the Internet. The final push involved unprecedented political pressure exerted by the Obama White House on FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, head of an ostensibly independent regulatory body. “Net...

The Internet is arguably the greatest invention to come out of America. The Internet has created more millionaires and billionaires in the last 20 years than any other industry. With the Internet, there are almost no barriers to entry and a massive capital infusion is generally not needed to get started. The Internet has also been one of the greatest boons for freedom and liberty since the invention of the printing press. Thanks to the Internet, the media elites no longer control the news and information. In fact, the media elites are now subject to and can be brought down...

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai released a statement on Obama’s Net Neutrality plan to regulate the internet and blasted Obama for not releasing the plan publicly. Last night, Chairman Wheeler provided his fellow Commissioners with President Obama’s 332-page plan to regulate the Internet. I am disappointed that the plan will not be released publicly. The FCC should be as open and transparent as the Internet itself and post the entire document on its website. Instead, it looks like the FCC will have to pass the President’s plan before the American people will be able to find out what’s really in it....

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (UPI) — The Federal Communications Commission will seek more influence on Internet regulation to ensure net neutrality, its chairman said Wednesday. In an editorial published on {link:the website of the magazine Wired: “http://www.wired.com/2015/02/fcc-chairman-wheeler-net-neutrality?mbid=social_twitter”,nw}, Tom Wheeler explained new rules, proposed this week, “to preserve the Internet as an open platform for innovation and free expression. This proposal is rooted in long-standing regulatory principles, marketplace experience, and public input.” The new rules will cast {link:high-speed Internet service as a public utility: “http://www.cnbc.com/id/102376526″,nw}, an unidentified person, who was consulted the FCC {link:on the proposal, told CNN: “http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/02/technology/net-neutrality-fcc/index.html”,nw}. The change would...

Dear Friends, Obamacare, the VA scandal, the IRS scandal--these are just a few examples of what happens when we give government huge power without oversight. It's about to happen again--the Obama Administration is fighting for a government takeover of the Internet and the Federal Communications Commission is going to vote on it February 26th. That's why I am writing you today--I need your help to stop this.President Obama came out a few weeks ago urging the FCC to vote to regulate the Internet the same way that it regulates public utilities under Title II. What this means is that, for...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is warning that federal regulators are trying to stifle economic growth and freedom of the Internet.The potential 2016 White House candidate on Thursday wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post warning that net neutrality is “one of the biggest regulatory threats to the Internet,” and laying out a host of policy prescriptions to save freedom online.The Internet, he wrote, is “the American Dream, 2.0.”New Federal Communications Commission rules, however, would “invariably destroy innovation and freedom,” he argued.“We don’t leave our constitutional rights behind when we go online,” Cruz wrote. “The same commitment to the principles of...

That would be the Democratic, Barack Obama-appointed FCC chair, who spent yesterday backpedaling from his boss on a major policy announcement. Obama went so far as to push out a video demanding unilateral action from the FCC on Net Neutrality, the latest White House distraction from the disastrous midterm elections and an attempt to show that Obama is still relevant: “As long as I’m President,” Obama says into the camera after cheesy, 1996-style buffering graphics, “that’s what I’ll be fighting for, too.” He may be fighting for it, but Obama clearly isn’t managing for it very well. Within hours of this...

I've researched the heck out of this BUT still don't get it. Just looking for a simple explanation for a simple man.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson warned that he will hold off on many of his company's capital investment plans if uncertainty persists over how the US government will regulate the Internet. "It's prudent to pause," he said at an investor conference Wednesday. "We want to make sure we have line of sight on this process and where these rules could land, and then re-evaluate." The comments come two days after President Obama threw his support behind the idea that broadband services providers should be regulated under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, which would treat Internet service providers more like utilities...

President Obama drew a sharp rebuke from senior Republicans on Capitol Hill for pushing broad regulation of Internet broadband service, with lawmakers warning that such a move would imperil the “thriving Internet economy and the American jobs it creates.” The president touched off the battle after issuing a lengthy statement on Monday on so-called “net neutrality.” Staking out his position, the president called on the Federal Communications Commission to more heavily regulate Internet providers and treat broadband much as it would any other public utility.

Cable company stocks fell sharply Monday after President Obama called for the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify Internet access as a utility. If the FCC were to approve the White House’s recommendations, the Internet would be regulated like other utilities such as electricity, water and telephone services. The White House is calling for an “explicit ban” on deals between broadband Internet providers and online services like Netflix, Amazon or YouTube to move their content faster, a potential new source of revenue for cable companies. While the FCC is an independent agency, Obama’s statement could put political pressure on FCC commissioners...

Get ready for the Department of Broadband. On Monday, President Obama called on the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify the Internet as a public utility—like water or electricity—under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. The goal: “to protect net neutrality,” Mr. Obama said in a White House YouTube video, an ironic venue for announcing a monumentally bad idea that could strangle the Internet. For years the FCC has been inching toward imposing net-neutrality rules, which are sold as a way to ban Internet service providers from discriminating against content providers. In reality such rules would dictate what ISPs...

At times of peak demand for electricity, do you want your refrigerator to run at the discretion of the power company? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has revised its Energy Star energy-efficiency requirements for residential refrigerators, and it is encouraging the inclusion of “connected” features that respond to utility signals to curb their energy consumption. The EPA announced the new requirements on June 27. Included is the optional “smart-grid” connection for customers to electronically connect their refrigerator or freezer with a utility provider. …

AUSTIN - Under electricity deregulation, Texans have paid some of the highest rates in the nation -- a reversal of at least a decade of relatively cheap electricity under the state's old regulated system. That's the conclusion of a national utility expert, who also reports that those in deregulated states typically have had larger rate increases than customers in states still under regulation. Separate academic reports likewise show, after making adjustments for inflation and other factors, that electricity prices in Texas have gone up since 1996, while those in regulated states have gone down; and that in general terms, electricity...

Major Orange County water district is considering a public-private partnership for a desalination project. A major supplier of water in Orange County is exploring potential partnerships between government and industry to develop a desalination plant that could help reduce demands on the county's vast groundwater basin. The efforts of the Orange County Water District come as Huntington Beach is considering a private venture by Poseidon Resources to build and operate a $250-million desalination facility at the AES power plant on Pacific Coast Highway.