Today is Halloween 2016. Which means the Barack Obama Administration is running out of time to issue government power grab payouts to the cronies that ensconced them in office.
Which brings us to last Thursday at the administration’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The ridiculous FCC jammed through a ridiculous power grab – on which just a month earlier the Commission’s own three unelected Democrats couldn’t even agree.
But the administration’s expiration date approaches – so the three Donkeys got in line. And in their “I’m a Congressman” costumes unilaterally rewrote law – and again jammed the private Internet sector.
The media water carriers – as always in their “Objective Journalist” costumes – call what the FCC did a move to “protect privacy.” What the FCC actually did was issue another power grab that hurts everyone – except Google, Facebook, Netflix and the other cronies. Tricks for us – treats for them. Happy Halloween, All.
The FCC did this by writing brand new law – again, without benefit of Congress – for how Internet Service Providers (ISPs) collect and use data. Their new “law” – is unequal treatment before the law. It is far more stringent on and punitive of ISPs – than the actual laws are on Google, Facebook, Netflix and the other cronies. Thereby dramatically benefitting Google, Facebook, Netflix and the other cronies.
By way of comparison, consider how the administration treated unfavored David Petraeus and favored Hillary Clinton with regard to the mishandling of classified intelligence. (Friday’s better-late-than-never reexamination announcement notwithstanding.)
The FCC issued this fiat in a completely failed, giant-mess-making attempt to clean up an existing massive mess – that they themselves created with a previous unilateral power grab. That would be the FCC’s Net Neutrality fiat – which was also executed to benefit the same government cronies.
Of course, no one breaks the law of unintended consequences more than government.
As we who were opposed to the Net Neutrality grab warned incessantly, it is now strangling the private sector Internet. Which, by the way, is exactly what this new grab will do, too. So we have that going for us – which is nice.
The absurd Net Neutrality power grab upended about a century’s worth of existing privacy law and precedent. Another wing of uncertainty in the hallowed disruptive halls of Net Neutrality.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had all this time previously handled privacy. Several FTC officials expressed serious concern about the new privacy ambiguity created by the FCC’s grab. So did we. And the FTC and we, it turns out, were exactly right.
But rather than getting rid of the gi-normous power grab mess of their own creation – the FCC instead issued another power grab.
Will it fix the mess they themselves made? Highly doubtful. (Keep this in mind when huge-government-disaster-Obamacare proponents demand even more government to fix the huge mess government’s made.)
Will it create all sorts of new messes? Undoubtedly.
But you see, rolling back the last grab would roll back with it the giveaways to cronies. This new grab keeps those gifts in place – and delivers a whole new raft of them. And to the Obama Administration, that’s what’s really important.
The Administration knows time is running out for conducting cronyism. So it’s damn the private sector – and full speed ahead with the grabs.
Very scary, indeed.
Happy Halloween, All.
This first appeared in Red State.