Net Nuts

Net neutrality is dead:

Judge Griffin makes it clear that this time around, the FCC would not be able to rewrite federal law to suit its purposes.

That brings us to today. The Safeguarding Order once more imposes net-neutrality policies on Broadband Internet Service Providers by reclassifying broadband Internet as a telecommunications service subject to common-carrier regulation under Title II. 89 Fed. Reg. at 45404.3 This order—issued during the Biden administration—undoes the order issued during the first Trump administration, which undid the order issued during the Obama administration, which undid orders issued during the Bush and Clinton administrations. Cf. Loper Bright, 144 S. Ct. at 2288 (Gorsuch, J., concurring) (lamenting that “Chevron deference engender[ed] constant uncertainty and convulsive change even when the statute at issue itself remains unchanged”). Applying Loper Bright means we can end the FCC’s vacillations.

Nuking net neutrality is an unalloyed good. It restricts the ability of the FCC to meddle in the marketplace, and reduced meddling usually results in more liberty, more innovation, less rent-seeking, less power by lobbyists, and better outcomes for citizens. If the parade of horribles forecasted by Obama as he created from whole cloth, the boogeyman net neutrality that was supposed to be defeated does appear; then Congress can give the FCC jurisdiction. Until then, they need to go back to their well-paid cubbyholes and leave us alone.

Unfortunately they probably won't...

Biden Bust

MSNBC finally notices:

Even though immigration was one of the top concerns throughout the election, nearly all mainstream media outlets refused to report on the large influx of migrants, which saw border encounters increase at least four-fold compared to the first Donald Trump administration. However, with a second Trump term just over two weeks away, MSNBC acknowledged how border encounters were a major factor in the country’s decision to vote Republican last November – I suppose in an attempt to make themselves look honest in their reporting for a brief change. Admitting that the border crisis was not “not Biden’s finest moment,” MSNBC analyst Steve Rattner said, “You can see what happened here. Trump is not wrong when he talks about how border crossings were quite low. They were running about 74,000 a month when he left office. They, in fact, did shoot up. Some of it was some things Biden said, and some was they put a moratorium, for example, on deportations. But, in fact, we did get up here almost to 300,000 a month.”

Just the little things...

No Drilling Allowed

Biden is going ban-happy before Trump takes office:

The Biden administration is attempting to implement last-minute restrictions on oil and gas drilling in the west just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. On Monday, the Department of the Interior announced plans to pursue a 20-year ban on oil and gas leases in 264,000 acres of Nevada’s Ruby Mountains. The administration submitted an application to withdraw the acreage from any potential leasing, which initiated a two-year ban on new mineral leases in the area during the approval process. The proposal now heads into a 90-day public comment period, which will fall under the Trump administration. “The Ruby Mountains are an iconic landscape with exceptional recreation opportunities and valuable fish and wildlife habitat worth preserving for the future,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement. “Today’s action honors the voices of Tribal communities and conservation and sportsmen’s groups and marks another important step to protect a treasured landscape.” The Biden administration’s lease limitation does not put restrictions on mining in the region.

One ban at a time...

Admitting Defeat

James Carville on why Trump won:

His opinion piece, published Thursday, began with, “I thought Kamala Harris would win. I was wrong. While I’m sure we Democrats can argue that the loss wasn’t a landslide or take a little solace in our House performance, the most important thing for us now is to face that we were wrong and take action on the prevailing ‘why.'” Carville went on to argue that the reason behind the Democratic Party’s failure to hold on to the White House was, is, and “always will be the economy, stupid”:

I’ve been going over this in my head for the past two months, all the variables, all the what-ifs, all the questions about Joe Biden’s re-election decisions and what kind of Democrat or message might have worked against Donald Trump. I keep coming back to the same thing. We lost for one very simple reason: It was, it is and it always will be the economy, stupid. We have to begin 2025 with that truth as our political north star and not get distracted by anything else.

He then said that most Americans do not care about Trump’s indictments or other controversies when they “cannot provide for themselves or their families,” and called on Democrats to stop focusing on Trump in general because he cannot be elected again. “Mr. Trump won the popular vote by putting the economic anger of Americans front and center. If we focus on anything else, we risk falling farther into the abyss,” he wrote, before concluding that Democrats will “live or die by winning public perception of the economy.”

Perception is reality, whether the Democrats want to admit it or not...

DEI Bayou

New Orleans is full of DEI:

The New Orleans FBI Field Office has aggressively promoted diversity initiatives on social media, especially in its recruitment efforts. A press release from May 20, 2024, stated the bureau would hold a “Diversity Agent Recruitment (DAR) event” to aid in their search for applicants with “diverse backgrounds, skills, opinions, and perspectives.” #FBINewOrleans is holding a Diversity Agent Recruiting event and we want to meet you! Agents and FBI executives will provide first hand information about a rewarding career. Apply now to see if you qualify for the July 17th event in Metairie, LA here: https://t.co/wOH9dIvZG8 pic.twitter.com/kDCwaTcdbN — FBI New Orleans (@FBINewOrleans) June 8, 2024 The division’s social media accounts are rife with advertisements for diversity recruitment, with one post encouraging “minorities and women who qualify” to attend the DAR event. (RELATED: Tiger Bech, Former Princeton Football Player, Killed In New Orleans Terrorist Attack) Another post from June 2024 says the agency is “committed to fostering diversity and inclusion by hiring special agents from a variety of unexpected backgrounds.” A July 2021 post captioned “The Value of Diversity” celebrates “Near and Middle East Heritage Month.”

Define irony...

College Learning

Schools are finally waking up:

What’s new is this: the universities themselves are beginning to recognize — and in rare cases admit — that they took a wrong turn. The Chronicle’s publication of Clune’s critique of higher education is one piece of evidence for this claim. Five or ten years ago, would the following words have been printed by the country’s top magazine on higher ed?

Even if one wholeheartedly agrees with every faculty-lounge political opinion, there are still very good reasons to be skeptical about making such opinions the basis of one’s academic work. The first is that, while academics have real expertise in their disciplines, we have no special expertise when it comes to political judgment … No one should treat my opinion on any political matter as more authoritative than that of any other person. The spectacle of English professors pontificating to their captive classroom audiences on the evils of capitalism, the correct way to deal with climate change, or the fascist tendencies of their political opponents is simply an abuse of power.

The publication of Clune’s piece is evidence of the sea-change that might be taking place in academia. But there are other indicators. Clune notes that grand political proclamations by university administrators have dropped off since the House of Representatives’ hearings on antisemitism and the related resignation of Harvard University President Claudine Gay. More surprising still, a number of universities have begun scrapping their DEI departments and positions. .... Notably, the humanities programs that continue to thrive are often those that follow a more postcritical method. They’ve jettisoned the tired neo-Marxist mantras in favor of what literature has always been about: the discovery of the good, the true, and the beautiful in the mystery of human life. The rejection of objective truth by academics in the 19th and 20th centuries deprived universities of their purpose. Politics came in to fill the vacuum. But the failure of politicized academics may be a sign of hope and a step toward the restoration of truth.

Hopefully the rest of higher education will follow this trend...

Court Trials

John Roberts is concerned:

The new report, which comes as public approval of the Supreme Court remains near historic lows, did not include specific policy recommendations. Roberts wrote that “violence, intimidation, disinformation, and threats to defy lawfully entered judgments,” pose risks to “the independence of judges on which the rule of law depends.” Even though elected officials have every right to criticize judicial decisions, their statements can “prompt dangerous reactions by others,” Roberts wrote. Although “some tension between the branches of the government is inevitable and criticism of judicial interpretations of the people’s laws is as old as the Republic itself,” some elected officials have “raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings.” “Attempts to intimidate judges for their rulings in cases are inappropriate and should be vigorously opposed,” he wrote.

Leave those justices alone...