TDT: Net Neutrality: Protective, Or Just A Government Power-Grab?
Also: Another regional bank falls, Noem and puppies, plus much more!
Net neutrality is one of those sticky-wickets about which a myriad of opinions and interpretations exist, but where there is very little consensus on what it actually means. It is almost as if it is designed to be confusing deliberately, which usually means there is something nefarious about it.
Welcome to this edition of the Three-Dot Tablet [TDT], a weekly news-digest where I seek out the headlines others may not be covering (or not covering well), and - with healthy doses of passion, common sense, and brevity - discuss them with raw, unfiltered commentary.
Let's get to it…
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Three-Dot Tablet | V. 02.16 | April 28, 2024
Prime Cut
Net neutrality restored as FCC votes to regulate internet providers
Associated Press
They’re from the government, and they are here to help…
The Federal [Communications] Commission on Thursday voted to restore “net neutrality” rules that prevent broadband internet providers such as Comcast and Verizon from favoring some sites and apps over others.
The move effectively reinstates a net neutrality order the commission first issued in 2015 during the Obama administration. In 2017, under then-President Donald Trump, the FCC repealed those rules.
Net neutrality is one of those sticky-wickets about which a myriad of opinions and interpretations exist, but where there is very little consensus on what it actually means. It is almost as if it is deliberately designed to be confusing and vague, which usually means there is something nefarious about it.
That, by itself, is an immediate ‘strike one’ against it.
In theory, it is supposed to assure that Internet providers do not give preferential treatment to certain companies when it comes to broadband allocation. It requires them to treat all traffic equally, no matter how much data is being produced by each site. This means a site which provides streaming video or gaming gets the same speeds as a text-based site with no media of any kind.
So… basically, it is the same as hosting a barbecue and telling a 250-pound guest that they can eat no more food than an attendee who only weighs 115 pounds, because it wouldn’t be ‘fair;’ does that make any kind of sense? There is a word for that, you know - ‘equity.’
And there’s strike two.
Of course, as with most (if not all) government actions, it is a solution to a problem that does not exist. Indeed, since net neutrality was overturned in 2017, there have been few-if-any adverse effects, and certainly not the calamity they predicted. Generally speaking, speeds are up, quality has improved, and services are cheaper.
So if it is not being implemented to solve a legitimate problem, and if it has been proven that there actually is no problem… then why on Earth is it being reimplemented?
It has been my experience that any time a government pushes through a law such as this, under these circumstances - especially one which is confusing or vague - there is one overriding goal: To take control of the target of said-law, incrementally grabbing power… step by laborious step.
Strike three, batter - you’re out…
Your Voice
Perhaps you disagree with me, however - or maybe you do agree? Whichever the case, let me know what you think…
Memetic Vittles
Note: As this is one of my own memetic creations, I was happy to see that it was included in a recent meme-drop by Conspiracy Sarah…
Full Mag
Bullet-points, from the week that was…
FTC bans noncompete agreements, making it easier for workers to quit
CBS News
Thanks to a ruling by the Federal Trade Commission [FTC], 117 days from today it will be illegal for companies to request a non-compete commitment from an employee; all existing non-competes will be voided when the rule goes into effect, excepting those signed by senior executives.
Not only will this expand the power of the FTC well beyond its intended purpose (never ever a good thing with a federal agency), but it will make companies far less likely to invest in existing employees.
If a company is going to spend the money training someone, after all, they want assurances beforehand said-employee is not going to take those new skills to another company before they receive a return on their investment. It's just common-sense business.
Hence, thanks to this rule they will simply stop investing, which only serves to harm… the employees. Which, in relation to the Prime Cut above, further proves government actions never help Average Citizens, but only ends up hurting them…
A vaccine for bees has an unexpected effect
Science News
They are vaccinating bees, folks. Bees… the most critical insect for life on this planet… they are juicing them up with their unnatural serums, without any real knowledge of the potential long-term effects.
Again: They. Are. Vaccinating. Bees.
I just can’t anymore…
US regulators seize troubled lender Republic First, sell it to Fulton Bank
Reuters
And THIS is why I follow
- she’s been sounding the alarm about regional banks for at least weeks, even inspired a ‘Prime Cut’ from me here on a recent TDT. And this happened to an urban ‘regional’ - how likely is it that rural banks will survive?It is going to get worse for regionals long before it gets better, folks, and as it does loan-money for local, small-businesses (along with farming / ranching concerns) will dry up. Regionals will continue to get absorbed by bigger regionals, which will eventually be consumed by globalist behemoths, and the communities - genuine communities - which are served by these smaller banks will continue to be drained.
Until there is nothing left…
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Japan Times
If you live here in the States, these numbers will astonish you. The total number of homeless people in the entirety of Japan is 2,820. In a nation with 123 million people (that’s 123,000,000), less than three thousand of them are homeless.
To contrast, it is estimated over 35,000 veterans alone are homeless in the US; just veterans. And the total number of homeless Americans in 2023? They did a tally for one night on December 21st, and it was over 650,000.
See, this is what happens when politicians actually prioritize their own nation first, instead of sending hundreds of billions of its currency overseas to fight wars for others - they are able to properly serve the people they are supposed to serve.
Kudos to Japan - for doing it right - and shame on every single one of those heartless monsters in DC…
Japan's SLIM survives 3rd lunar night, surprising designers
UPI
Speaking of Japan… let’s give it up for the little lander that could.
Many had fun giving the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency [JAXA] a little good-natured ‘business’ back in January, when its ‘Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon’ [SLIM] literally faceplanted into the moon; I was one of those getting in on the fun. However, it soon righted itself and has been performing admirably since, collecting valuable lunar data.
They were not expecting SLIM, however, to survive more than two lunar nights, since those nights last about two weeks each. However, this feisty little lander continues to defy expectations, and keeps doing amazing scientific things.
So kudos to JAXA, and - once again - kudos to Japan. Perhaps they can give NASA some pointers, because… well, that agency hasn’t exactly been performing at expert-levels lately…
This Day In History: 1770
British explorer James Cook made his first landing in Australia, at Botany Bay. Converted into a British prison colony soon after, Australia evolved over the years and eventually became an independent nation, in 1901.
120 years later it is endeavoring to reclaim its roots as a prison colony…
[Sources: Britannica | NPR (via Associated Press)]
Sunday WX…
The weather is back… because I missed it being here!
The center of the nation is still dealing with potential severe-weather risks today, especially concerning after Friday’s devastating tornadoes. A strong southerly flow raises temperatures above normal for many (especially along the Mississippi Valley), while portions of the Rockies may be digging out of a wintery conditions, with overnight temps hovering near or below freezing.
Here are your forecast maps for today, the 28th of April…
[Maps Source: National Weather Service]
And Finally…
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem defends her account of killing own dog in new book
NBC News
As most of you know, I normally steer clear of politics, but sometimes the actions of the politician transcend the politics.
Case in point…
South Dakota governor and Republican vice presidential contender Kristi Noem on Friday responded to a news report about a section of her forthcoming book where she describes killing her 14-month-old dog.
Of course, X exploded in righteous fervor and condemnation, with all manner of vitriol being splashed about. I would call it a ‘bloodbath,’ except it seems a wildly inappropriate word to use for the subject matter at hand.
And you know… I get it. This looks bad.
Noem did her self no favors with her response. While acknowledging that rural life demands these things happen sometimes (which can be true, more on that in a moment), she also said that it was proof that should could make tough decisions when necessary, exactly as a leader should.
Um… yeah, that’s not going to fly here.
I was initially inclined to take a more measured approach toward this, because I know such things can occur in rural settings.
Furthermore, I considered these key points…
- The original story did come from the Guardian UK, which is not exactly a bastion of agenda-free journalism; we do not know if anything in her book was taken out of context, or misrepresented…
- Her point about occasionally having to ‘put down’ a dangerous animal is true… but only to a point; those choices should always be made as an absolute last-resort, and should rarely-to-never apply to a 14-month old puppy…
- Cities and townships across America regularly euthanize dogs, especially after they have tasted blood (which Noem’s dog had, apparently mauling a neighbor’s chicken flock), and few of those attacking Noem ever call THAT action out; to them, I guess it is okay if ‘government’ is the entity doing the killing…
- AND… a vast majority of the most vicious attackers of Noem (aside from animal rights advocates) have ever once - not ONCE - condemned Anthony Fauci for literally torturing beagles to death. So yes, political agenda is at play here.
And yet…
Her response to this, upon reflection, makes it impossible to sympathize; she not only openly told the story, but seems to take pride in it. She does not appear to have any remorse whatsoever over putting down a 14-month old puppy, but is instead touting it a positive character trait.
That would be a bridge too far for me, even if the person telling the story was a lifelong friend; it’s even less so if it is a politician in a different state.
Here is a good rule of thumb, for everyone to follow: If you are a politician (or even, generally speaking, a human person) and you have ever killed a puppy or kitten, for any reason?
Do not use it as a flex.
Seriously, nothing good is ever going to come from that, because - to be brutally frank - if you try to do so? It makes you look more than a bit psychotic…
And that is all for this edition of the Three-Dot Tablet. Have a great week ahead, and as always… stay frosty!
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Blast From The Past
As the decision to move forward with Andrew Tate rape charges has fired up the ‘hype’ once again - with many many fascinating takes on the man and his ‘myth’ - I thought we’d revisit a piece I tapped out about him back in July of last year.
I think it has aged fairly well…
Notes…
-- Edit: The quote that I pulled from the AP article (see screenshot below] misidentified the “Federal Communications Commission” as the “Federal Trade Commission;” I have updated this article, with proper brackets to reflect the error. Thanks to
-- Due to a power outage I was delayed in getting this edition posted; apologies for that.
-- Unless otherwise credited, all images were created by the author, using Substack’s AI Image Generator.
Re: net neutrality, the original issue was that comcast (I think it was them) and a few other providers were floating the idea of charging individual websites for access to "fast lane" services - or in other words throttling anyone who didn't pay up. It was a shakedown, and an untenable one at that. Imagine you host a site and now on top of hosting fees you have to give up lunch money to ensure your site loads at a reasonable speed on a myriad of individual ISPs. This is something companies like netflix could deal with but not rando web hosts.
This on its own may have been a stupid move, since we as web hosts could have rebelled and alerted visitors that their ISPs were throttling us. Consumer choice could sort this out one way or other. Except that ISPs have cut exclusivity deals with municipal governments and property management firms, so that many consumers no longer have a choice of ISP, on infrastructure their taxes and/or rent paid for. Even where that's not the case the ISPs lobby local chambers of commerce to interfere with new competitors building infrastructure (comcast for example lobbied hard against Google's fiber internet service with result that it's not available in many cities where they hold an artificial monopoly).
Thing is the FCC is deeply corrupt and stupid, and the rules they wrote also seemed to interfere with QoS systems, which prioritize certain kinds of high bandwidth traffic (videos, games) which is generally good and what the customer wants.
So it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. One way or other somebody is grabbing power and it causes somebody else damage, all of which could be avoided if not for the original corruption. Hardly matters now, since the internet is dead anyway.
Re: noncompetes, it's just standard boilerplate in every contract now. Has nothing to do with training and everything to do with making employees think twice about quitting. Can't remember the last time I signed a contract without a non-compete. Never cared because they're unenforceable in many states and in general in practical effect. For some people they were ruinous, particularly artists who worked for the satanic rodent, but California banned them ages ago, rendering the point moot for most of their animators.
I don't like the federal government interfering in either of these things and don't think they have the authority to do so. But I also don't feel sorry for the poor widdle crony corps who were whining about it. We're not living with a free market here, it's just grifts and graft all the way down.
Thank you Stone for an excellent well thought out presentation. I have a much better understanding of net neutrality now. Thank you! What I notice today compared to the early to mid 2000s is my google results are much less and “directed”. Remember those good old days when hundred and even thousands of results generated from typing in a subject? I fell in love with the Internet then and I am disappointed know that I am redirected to Quora or Reddit for answers by opinions. You may as well fine what you’re looking for on Facebook. Lol!
This: “So… basically, it is the same as hosting a barbecue and telling a 250-pound guest that they can eat no more food than an attendee who only weighs 115 pounds, because it wouldn’t be ‘fair;’ does that make any kind of sense? There is a word for that, you know - ‘equity.’” My 140 lb Great Pyrenees doesn’t think it’s fair when I give him the same equitable amount of food as I do my 20 lb overweight poodle. 🐩