Free Republic

Ready to pay more for Internet access? Me neither. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what we can expect under the “net neutrality” rules being pushed by President Obama. “Net neutrality” may sound harmless, but there would be nothing neutral about this change. Currently, broadband providers such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast are treated differently than traditional telephone companies and electric utilities. They aren’t subject to “common-carrier” rules that prohibit them from varying rates and services. In short, they can offer -- and charge -- what they want. That’s good for consumers, because it means that in order to compete, they’re always trying...

The fallout from President Barack Obama's push to reclassify internet access as a public utility was immediate, and no one reacted faster the nation's telecom giants. Most issued remarks that characterized the move as a huge mistake, but AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson went one better -- as if on cue, he announced that the company was throwing the brakes on its fiber network rollout because it didn't make sense to sink a ton of money a network infrastructure when no one knew "under what rules those investments will be governed". Long story short, he wants AT&T to wait to build...

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Al Franken (D-Minn.) are squaring off over whether new net neutrality rules would hinder or help the growth of the Internet.After Cruz last week called net neutrality “ObamaCare for the Internet,” Franken over the weekend said that the Texas Republican had the issue “completely wrong.” ADVERTISEMENT The Texas senator “just doesn't understand what this issue is,” Franken said.On Monday, Cruz’s office fired back with YouTube videos and Vine clips that it said explains how tough Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules would “calcify” the Internet and prevent people from using it as a platform for innovation.Cruz...

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Thursday took a step toward improving Internet speeds in America, requiring providers to offer download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second to classify as "broadband." The new restrictions also require 3Mbps speeds for uploads to classify as broadband Internet. Internet service providers face the more severe restrictions after the FCC determined that U.S. broadband deployment is not keeping pace with the rest of the world. The new benchmark speeds are a large improvement from the previous requirement of 4Mbps download and 1Mbps upload to classify as broadband. The FCC said that the...

WASHINGTON (CBS SF) – The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday to change the definition of what constitutes high-speed internet, adopting a standard 2.5 times the current national average.

For many people who didn’t grow up in or around New York City, there are a few things that come to mind when they hear the name “Brooklyn.” Many automatically think of hipsters and indie rock concerts. Some think of artsy lofts and farmers markets. Others think of “brownstone Brooklyn,” where one can potentially afford a cute home and raise a middle-class family without the distance and suburban-like qualities of Queens. What people typically don’t think about are the underprivileged communities that exist here, many of which have become home to people priced out of their old homes in brownstone...

Here’s a refreshing change of pace for you. Normally when we have to talk about politicians caving in on a position they’ve staked out, it winds up being the Republicans. This week, however, the collapse took place in the White House. Barack Obama had been pushing for what amounted to another tax increase by eliminating the 529 college savings program whereby parents could set aside pretax money for their kids’ education and not pay taxes on it upon withdrawal provided the money was used to pay for tuition. But in the face of bipartisan opposition and negative feedback from...

It never fails to amuse me when people who make their living peddling racial indignation work hard to associate negative characteristics with black people, blissfully unaware of how racist they are. The latest example comes from a black-oriented newspaper in Atlanta, called The Atlanta Blackstar (hat tip: Top Right News), which claims they are just alternative forms of the N-word. No kidding! The piece is titled, “The N-Word, Updated: 6 Code Words or Terms That Often Mean the Same Thing” A favorite tactic is to claim that “code words” or else “dog whistles” are being used when negative words are...

Mayor Martin J. Walsh has fired a 25-year-old city youth worker after learning the Roxbury woman was among 11 protesters who chained themselves to 1,200-pound, concrete-filled barrels in Milton on Thursday, snarling morning rush-hour traffic and stalling at least two ambulances, the Herald has learned. As mayor, you have to make tough, difficult decisions. This is not a difficult decision,” Walsh said. “This was not based on the fact of this woman protesting. It was based on the fact of putting the public safety of other people at risk.” Nelli Ruotsalainen, a part-time youth communication specialist for the Boston Centers...

I tire of hearing how success is dependent upon the financial status of the parents, and the coupled assertion that whites have a shared privilege of historical financial success. I grew up in a very rural, all white area. My elementary class was comprised of 13 kids, 11 families farmed or ran cattle, one operated a small two pump gas station, and one worked as meat cutters. About three families were lower middle class, while the rest were all working poor. We didn’t consider ourselves to be poor, but that is how the government classified us. Not a single family...

The Black Brunch movement wants us to get uncomfortable with law enforcement violence in communities of color.Weekend brunch is usually the time for Americans to kick back and enjoy a mimosa and a slice of a savory veggie frittata (watch out for those spiking egg prices) with friends or family. But on Sunday, diners in several New York City and Oakland, California, restaurants got a hefty serving of anti–police violence activism alongside their meals. Dozens of participants in the grassroots Black Brunch movement walked into restaurants that tend to serve a predominantly white customer base. The activists weren’t there to...

America's social justice movement has reached a critical turning point. The left's bravest young warriors for change have turned ... back to 1989 and borrowed costumes from Janet Jackson's "Rhythm Nation" music video. Clad in black-ops black from head to toe with fists held high, stylin' members of the so-called "Black Brunch" brigade look like they're ready to break into some old-school New Jack Swing dance moves. And 5, 6, 7, 8! But seriously, all you hate-mongering, racist oppressors. You must banish your colonialist, imperialist and patriarchal impulses to mock. The "comrades" (yes, they really call themselves that) who don...

On weekends, activists dressed in black are entering restaurant after restaurant, chanting and singing. The idea behind #BlackBrunch is to disrupt business as usual at upscale locations.A half century after Huey Newton and Bobby Seale formed the Black Panthers in Oakland, Calif., to carry guns and follow police around to record brutality, a new activism tactic has been launched in the same city to address racial injustice – albeit the weapons are different. On Sunday, activists dressed in black entered restaurant after restaurant in Oakland. Drawing out megaphones, 36 African-Americans chanted, sang, and filed out. Known as #BlackBrunch, the idea...

When hackers attack a website because they’re angry about information being spread, you can bet we won’t back down. That’s exactly what happened to our friends at WeaselZippers.us when their incontinent writer @DefendWallSt discovered and published a manual for the stupid “black brunch” protests this weekend. HERE are the screenshots they don’t want you to see!! (screw em!)

Hey, what’s more annoying than protesters blocking traffic? Protesters interrupting your meal. Anti-cop protesters embarked on a mission today to ruin brunch for people in New York City. ATTN WHITE Man, I have no guilt disturbing your brunch. Its YOU that has no right to be here.

Sunday was a bad day to order the egg-white omelet. Not content with disrupting medal ceremonies for centenarian WWII veterans, the “hands up, don’t shoot” crowd served up its latest concoction: “Black Brunch,” in which protesters stormed brunch-serving restaurants — a.k.a. “white spaces” — in Manhattan and Oakland, Calif., chanting, singing, waving banners and posters, and reading off names of black citizens killed by police. If that seems hip and edgy to you, then you were probably brunching at Lallisse on Sunday morning. In an interview in Spook magazine, “activists” Wazi Maret Davis and Brianna Gibson, discussing an earlier...

On Saturday, Maria Chappelle-Nadal, a Democrat serving in the Missouri state Senate whose district includes Ferguson, issued what many took to be a racist threat against white people on her Twitter feed. Her message, while apparently escaping the notice of local media outlets, angered a number of people. "LET ME BE CLEAR," she screamed on Twitter. "When you exercise your #WhitePrivilege, don't think I'm not going to remember. I will use it for the future. Uncomfortable?" "The system has literally failed the people I represent," she said hours later. "There is no hope that anything will change. We go through...

Missouri State Senator Maria Chappelle Nadal has been a vocal member of the Ferguson protest movement. In AUgust she told Missouri Democratic Governor Jay Nixon to “F*ck off.” Chappelle Nadal also accused police of purposely planning and executing the violence in Ferguson. This weekend she threatened Missouri voters over their white privilege. LET ME BE CLEAR: When you exercise your #WhitePriviledge, don't think I'm not going to remember. I will use it for the future. Uncomfortable?

In an article published in the New Statesman, the self-described feminist writer who only goes by the name “Glosswitch,” explained that passing gas is now a feminist issue. The piece, called “Why farting is a feminist issue,” explained that men are allowed “piss against a wall” and “spit in the street,” while women are not even allowed to fart. Glosswitch explains that women aren’t allowed to exhibit behaviors that come naturally to their bodies, while men can. “It’s understood that male bodies are a part of what men are,” she explains. “Female bodies don’t have the same status.” Women are...

January 04, 2015 FoxNews.com A Missouri state senator who has made controversial comments on social media following the shooting death in Ferguson of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man who was killed by a white police officer, is facing renewed criticism over her recent remark apparently about “white privilege.” State Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal apparently said on Twitter: "LET ME BE CLEAR. When you exercise your #WhitePrivilege, don't think I'm not going to remember. I will use it for the future. Uncomfortable?" The tweet by Chappelle-Nadal, a Democrat, drew sharp responses on Twitter, including suggestions that she was making racist comments...