As alluded to in our last blog, there really may be an investigation into the so called fake and fraudulent comments received by the FCC in its recently approved Restoring Internet Freedom Order. But it’s not at the behest of the group of 26 unhappy Senators as we feared – although they may still join the party – but four House members including Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Bobby Scott (D-Va.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), in a recent letter to the Attorney General and the FBI Director.
The heart of their argument for an investigation, as contained in the letter, reads as follows: “The fraud perpetrated in the FCC’s rulemaking appears to directly violate federal law. As more details have come to light, the scope of that fraud becomes more alarming. The FCC’s proceeding to role back consumers’ net neutrality protections was irreparably tainted by millions of fake comments using real email addresses of real people who had nothing to do with those comments.” Really?
Does this “Gang of 4” really believe that the Commission gave credence to ANY fake comments, no matter the sending email, or whether bot generated, or with Russian or other foreign addresses, or lacking in any serious content, or containing no content at all? Or that the FCC was not able to distinguish the many valid comments filed by real entities, containing measured and intelligent information and arguments on both sides of this issue? No, this request for an investigation is an obvious ploy to delay and ultimately derail a decision which they simply do not like.
But given the current political climate, it isn’t at all surprising that four disgruntled Democrats complain and campaign to investigate a Republican regulatory victory, especially one that significantly weakens federal control of a key part of American life.
After all, we still haven’t been able to escape the constant, mind numbing, progress-killing harassment of the Trump Presidency by a bogus, endless, mindless investigation of Russian interference, or collusion, or conspiracy, or whatever the “Secret Society” says it is.
So now, based on the “success” of the ad nauseum investigation of Trump’s election, a waffling DOJ and an overly-political FBI are asked to launch a similar witch hunt. The left is openly trying to delegitimatize a regulatory decision that returns us from a couple of years of Obama-inspired tight government control, to the lighter regulation which had allowed the internet to grow and flourish for 20 years.
Astonishing! Or it would have been, in the past. But it’s just business as usual in today’s America.
