High-Rise Swamp Backwater
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – is yet another one of those Executive Branch joints the Legislative Branch set up to be “independent.”
Which is, of course, unconstitutional.
The Constitution establishes three branches of government – Executive, Legislative and Judicial.
You can’t create an “independent” fourth branch – unless and until you amend our founding document.
So in Reality, the FTC should be an Executive Branch agency.
As with all the Executive Branch agencies, departments, commissions and boards – the FTC is supposed to execute the policy intentions of the duly elected Chief Executive.
THIS duly elected Chief Executive – Donald Trump.
Not the PRIOR duly elected Chief Executive – Barack Obama. Whose nigh entire panoply of policy intentions were diametrically opposed to this one’s.
But the FTC just yet again voted to continue doing the bidding of Obama – who hasn’t been president for nearly four years.
And in so doing the FTC yet again royally screwed Trump – the actual current occupant of the Oval Office.
The FTC is made up of five voting Commissioners – one of whom is also Chairman. Three are of the President’s Party – two can be of any other political organization known to man. (Republican, Democrat, Green, etc. – but they’e almost always of the opposing major Party.)
And so as to hide it – on “Dump It in the Garbage” Friday, at 7pmET – the FTC announced that allegedly Republican Chairman Joe Simons had voted with the Commission’s two Democrats to do this….
FTC Chairman Authorizes Another Swing at Qualcomm:
“Right before the passing of the deadline…the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took another swing at Qualcomm by filing a request to reconsider the recent appellate court decision.
“But to everybody’s surprise, the FTC Chair and Trump appointee Joseph J. Simons, coming out of recusal, authorized that decision.”
Yes, I know, Simons is a Trump appointee. But Trump was a career non-politician. He didn’t have a roster of thousands of ready-made bureaucrats ready to go when he won the White House.
So Trump has often been stuck – forced to pick Creatures from the fetid, festering Deep State Swamp. And they have far too often stuck him – as thanks for the privilege.
And get this obnoxiousness:
Obama set the stage for this idiocy – AFTER Trump won the election…just three days before Trump took office:
“In a complaint filed on Jan. 17, 2017, the FTC charged Qualcomm with using anticompetitive tactics to maintain monopolies in markets for the supply of modem chips, components that facilitate cellular communications in cellphones and other consumer products.”
Emphasis ours – because give us a break.
The lawsuit itself is simply stupid. Suing saying patents are monopolies – is like suing Shaquille O’Neal for being tall. Patents are the protection of your exclusive use of your idea. Of COURSE they are a “monopoly.” Just as OF COURSE Shaquille O’Neal is tall.
Let’s check with Merriam Webster and his dictionary.
Patent: “Secured by letters patent or by a patent to the exclusive control and possession of a particular individual or party.”
Monopoly: “Exclusive ownership through legal privilege.”
So Reality dictates – a patent is a “monopoly.”
You know who plays anti-Reality games like this? Communists.
China Fines Qualcomm Record $975M in Anti-Monopoly Case
And now, apparently, US.
When Obama filed his nonsense, We the People had just voted for Trump – who basically ran on undoing everything Obama had done.
But Obama knew: The FTC at the time was without a full Commissioner contingent – and ideologically deadlocked.
So thanks to idiocy of the Leviathan bureaucracy – the Trump FTC couldn’t vote to end the idiotic Obama lawsuit. And a tie went to the continuation of Obama’s idiotic lawsuit.
That was January 2017. And the Obama lawsuit rolled ever onward – under the auspices of the Trump Administration.
Finally, in May 2018, the slow-rolling bureaucracy did this….
Three Members of U.S. Federal Trade Commission Sworn In:
“Three members of the Federal Trade Commission were sworn in on Wednesday, bringing the agency to full staffing at the top for the first time since mid-2015.
“Chairman Joe Simons, a Republican, had been sworn in late Tuesday.”
So now, with a 3-2 Republican majority, the FTC could finally stop Obama’s idiocy, right? Wrong….
FTC Head Recuses Himself from Qualcomm Antitrust Row:
“Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joseph Simons has recused himself from any participation in the agency’s California federal court antitrust case accusing Qualcomm of anti-competitive patent licensing practices, leaving an even divide between the FTC’s Republican and Democratic commissioners….”
So the Trump FTC STILL couldn’t vote to stop Obama’s idiotic lawsuit.
Why did Simons recuse himself? Because he had a decade prior done for Qualcomm like three hours of billable legal work – on completely unrelated stuff.
But we now know this wasn’t Simons practicing an abundance of legal caution.
This was Simons practicing an abundance of political self-ass-covering.
Because Simons time-bombed his recusal – and his recusal expired.
So this happened….
In Victory for Qualcomm, Appeals Court Throws Out Antitrust Ruling:
“A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a 2019 ruling by a federal judge who found that Qualcomm had abused its monopoly position in wireless chips and overcharged mobile phone makers for its patents….”
Oh: Not mentioned by the eternally pathetic New York Times? Said ruling was bipartisan and unanimous.
The Ninth Circuit (THE NINTH CIRCUIT)’s unanimous, bipartisan ruling – put the ball back in the Simons-led Trump FTC’s court.
Alleged Republican Simons’ recusal having expired – he could have voted with his two Republican colleagues to FINALLY end Obama’s idiotic lawsuit.
But Simons voted with his two Democrat colleagues – to continue Obama’s idiotic lawsuit.
Because Simons is a Deep State Swamp Creature.
Trump knew there was something amiss back in August.
Trump Aides Interviewing Replacement for Embattled FTC Chair
But the Swamp, of course, favors and protects its Creatures:
“Simons…is serving a term that doesn’t end until September 2024, and he cannot legally be removed by the president except in cases of gross negligence.”
Get that?
We the People elected Trump.
Trump hires this clown Simons – only to find out Simons is often working in direct opposition to what we elected Trump to do.
But Trump can’t fire him for gross insubordination.
Because the Swamp is unconstitutionally pretending the FTC is an “independent” agency.
We the People – voted for Trump. We the People – did not vote for Simons.
But we are getting the unelected Simons’ policies – not the elected Trump’s.
In closing, let’s check back in with Merriam Webster and his dictionary.
Tyranny: “A rigorous condition imposed by some outside agency.…”
That’s exactly what we thought it was too.
This first appeared in Red State.