We have rather recently delved into the scintillating stupidity of the government bureaucracy “Comment Period”:
“One of the ways these agencies attempt to cover up their unilateral power grabs – is with a veneer of alleged We the People participation. Behold the utter dumbness of the ‘Comment Period.’
“Where some agency of which you’ve never heard – and to whom you’ve elected no one – quietly announces a period where you can file thoughts on the damage they’re about to inflict upon you.
“Of course, the Comment Period is entirely and solely Democracy Theater….(I)f the government wants to do something new – the process has to begin with legislation by the Legislative Branch. Not bureaucratic fiats by Executive Branch agencies….
“(T)hese (unelected) bureaucrats…are under no obligation whatsoever to have the comments you file – affect at all what they’re about to do to you.
“If the comments favor the power grab they are about to execute – they trumpet the results, and move forward as planned. If the comments oppose – they ignore the results, and move forward as planned.
“And this nonsense – allows for much additional nonsense by outside pro-government Leftist groups. They get to turn the Democracy Theater – into Kabuki Theater. They enlist their armies of uninformed nonsense-spewers – to spew their nonsense into the comment process.”
Speaking of “Kabuki Theater” and “armies of uninformed nonsense spewers” – it’s the 21st Century, and their nonsense can now be spewed digitally.
We were just subjected to a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) “Comment Period” – as the Donald Trump FCC reasonably engages in the government process of undoing the heinous Barack Obama Administration FCC power grab known as “Network Neutrality.”
(Yes, we have to “Comment Period” again when we rightly undo “Comment Period”-ed power grabs.)
How’d that go?
80% Of All Net Neutrality Comments Sent By Bots, Claim Researchers
What’s a “bot?”: “An Internet bot, also known as web robot, WWW robot or simply bot, is a software application that runs automated tasks (scripts) over the Internet. Typically, bots perform tasks that are both simple and structurally repetitive, at a much higher rate than would be possible for a human alone.”
Get all that? We have unelected bureaucrats. At little known bureaucracies. Engaging, nigh always, in huge power grabs. For which they have little renowned “Comment Periods.” During which they pretend to listen…to a bunch of non-human respondents:
“Findings cast doubt on 22 million comments submitted to the Federal Communications Commission.”
Ya think? The dumbness is strong in this one:
“(O)ne email…has been submitted to the FCC 1,200,000 times word for word right down to the ‘\n’ marks peppered throughout. A similar email was sent a reported 1 million times in August alone, as well.
“Of the 22 million comments submitted, only 3,863,929 comments submitted to the FCC are unique, i.e written by individuals. That’s roughly 17%.”
The bureaucracy “Comment Period” – is titanically stupid. Whether it is analog – or digital.
But this blatant obviousness – doesn’t daunt the fans of huge government power grabs.
FCC Opens Public Comment Period for Net Neutrality
John Oliver Tries To Save Net Neutrality Again; Likens FCC Chair Ajit Pai To A Serial Killer
John Oliver, FCC Feud Heats Up
Because calling Pai a “serial killer” wasn’t heated enough:
“The feud between HBO star John Oliver and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is heating up. Oliver skewered FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan to roll back net neutrality rules during Sunday’s episode of ‘Last Week -Tonight.’ His takedown appeared to send thousands of people to the FCC’s website, which crashed after the Sunday episode aired.”
FCC Flooded with Comments before Critical Net Neutrality Vote
As the Left tried to win the fight – they also tried to as much as possible delay its outcome. Because we obviously needed more time for more bots to file more stupid auto-“Comments.”
Dems Press FCC to Extend Net Neutrality Comment Period
Net Neutrality Supporters Pressure FCC to Extend Comment Deadline
And the FCC acquiesced to this nonsense – at least three different times.
‘Overwhelmed’ FCC Extends Net Neutrality Comment Period: “A surge of traffic is crashing the agency’s electronic filing system, so it’s bumping the feedback deadline on the controversial proposal from Tuesday (July 18) to Friday (July 21).”
FCC Adds Two Weeks To Comment Period On Net Neutrality Policy Changes: “Regulators now plan to close the comment period on August 30.”
FCC Extends Net Neutrality Comment Period to Sept. 15
So the thrice-delayed process – resulted in the FCC receiving 22 million “Comments.”
83% of which – were from robots.
All of which very much informs the decision-making process, I’m sure.
All of which actually serves to remind us: The bureaucratic “Comment Period” – is titanically stupid.
All of which also serves to remind us: If the Net Neutrality freaks want Net Neutrality – don’t unilaterally power grab it by Executive Branch fiat.
Instead, have the Legislative Branch pass legislation imposing Net Neutrality. And then have the President sign said legislation. At which point the Executive Branch FCC can then impose it.
You know – the way things are supposed to actually be done.
Until that happens, we should be subjected a whole lot less to these very few Net Neutrality freaks – and their very many “Comment Period” bots.
This first appeared in Red State.