As Deadline Fast Approaches, House Members Warned to Defend Net Neutrality or "Face Internet's Wrath"

"Any lawmaker of any party who fails to sign the discharge petition in support of the CRA will regret it come election time."

by Jon Queally, staff writer

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/06/07/deadline-fast-approaches-house-members-warned-defend-net-neutrality-or-face

With less than a week before the FCC's "resoundingly unpopular" repeal of net neutrality rules go into effect on June 11th, defenders of the open internet and online consumers are warning members of the U.S. House of Representatives to either immediately back a resolution petition that would nullify the rules or "face the internet's wrath."

With the Senate passing a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution in May, the broad coalition trying to thwart the GOP-controlled FCC is pulling out all the stops in order to win a similar victory in the House. With more than 175 House members already indicating their support for the CRA, a total of 218 signatures are needed to force the resolution to the floor, a goal the BattleforNet coalition—which includes Fight for the Future, Free Press, Demand Progress, and others—says is increasingly within reach in the wake of the Senate's bipartisan vote.

For those who don't seize this historic opportunity to preserve the bedrock online principle of net neutrality, however, advocates say there will be unyielding contempt.

"People are going to be pissed off. Really pissed off. And rightly so. It's hard to imagine a more clear example of how our democracy is broken," said Evan Greer, deputy director of Fight for the Future. "We're going to harness the power of the internet to ensure that people have a way to channel that anger productively. Any lawmaker of any party who fails to sign the discharge petition in support of the CRA will regret it come election time."

According to Candace Clement, campaign director for the Free Press Action, "This will be one of the biggest showdowns of the summer in the House. For constituents everywhere Net Neutrality is non-negotiable. Our elected representatives can either side with the people and support the CRA or with the cable and phone lobby."

As part of their campaign, the coalition has organized a day of actions for Thursday, so that citizens nationwide can visit or contact their House member in order to demand support for the CRA.

"Activists and advocates in every district are already turning up the heat on anyone who sells out their constituents to line the pockets of AT&T, Comcast and Verizon," said Clement. "Keeping the internet open is critical."

'What Happens When You Put Someone in Charge of Agency They Think Shouldn't Exist,' Says Warren After Mulvaney Guts CFPB Panel

"Mulvaney is only interested in obtaining views from his inner circle, and has no interest in hearing the perspectives of those who work with struggling American families," says the board's ousted chair

by Jessica Corbett, staff writer

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/06/06/what-happens-when-you-put-someone-charge-agency-they-think-shouldnt-exist-says

Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), disbanded the Consumer Advisory Board (CAB) on Wednesday in what critics are calling just his latest in a series of moves to "quietly sabotage" the agency.

"Everyone on the board has been fired," said Judith Fox, a professor of consumer law at Notre Dame Law School and three-year member of CAB—a group of 25 economic and financial experts that the watchdog agency is legally required to meet with at least twice a year.

Several other ousted CAB members confirmed Fox's statement to the Associated Press, sharing details from a Wednesday conference call and an email officially dismissing them. While the board will be reconstituted later this year, Fox said none of the fired members will be allowed to apply.

"Firing the current CAB members is another move indicating Acting Director Mick Mulvaney is only interested in obtaining views from his inner circle, and has no interest in hearing the perspectives of those who work with struggling American families," responded ousted CAB chair Ann Baddour, a project director at the nonprofit Texas Appleseed.

"This is what happens when you put someone in charge of an agency they think shouldn't exist," tweeted Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who played a key part in establishing the CFPB.

Karl Frisch, executive director of the advocacy group Allied Progress, said the decision demonstrates "Mick Mulvaney is only looking out for his Wall Street friends that have showered him with more than a million dollars in campaign cash over the years." 

"When push comes to shove, Mick Mulvaney will always stand up for the powerful Wall Street special interests that have had his back. He'll burry his head in the sand so he doesn't have to hear the voices of consumers, experts, and those who want him to fulfill the mission of the CFPB," Frisch added. "Consumers deserve a champion not a corporate shill."

"Apparently Acting Director Mulvaney is willing to listen to industry lobbyists who make campaign contributions, but not the statutorily appointed Consumer Advisory Board members," said National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) attorney Chi Chi Wu, another fired CAB member. "Firing current members of the advisory board is a huge red flag in this administration's ongoing erosion of critical consumer financial protections that help average families."

The CFPB said in a statement that it "will continue to fulfill its statutory obligations to convene the Consumer Advisory Board and will continue to provide forums for the Community Bank Advisory Council and the Credit Union Advisory Council. The Bureau will continue these advisory groups and will use the current 2018 application and selection process to reconstitute the current advisory groups with new, smaller memberships."

Ousted board member Max Levchin, founder of financial services company Affirm, rejected the agency's claims that the decision was motivated by desires to diversify membership and save money. He also warned that "without this direct line to all stakeholders, CFPB's job becomes much harder, perhaps nearly impossible."

The announcement on Wednesday followed a report earlier this week by David Dayen at The Intercept that during Mulvaney's tenure as head of the CFPB, the agency has ignored both rules and established precedent, cancelling two in-person board meetings and several conference calls with little notice.

"It's disturbing to watch the current administration of this bureau do so much to undermine the bureau's core," Lynn Drysdale, then-vice chair of CAB, had told Dayen. "The present administration is more concerned with restructuring and installing political staff than protecting consumers."

Summer Lee’s plans to bring Socialism to the Pennsylvania Statehouse

“That we have not just revolted is crazy to me.”

BY MITCHELL STEWART

http://inthesetimes.com/article/21188/summer-lee-democratic-socialist-pennsylvania-primary

Summer Lee, an African-American lawyer, community organizer and member of the Democratic Socialists of America profiled in our June cover story, recently won the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House District 34 on a resolutely progressive platform. With no Republican likely to file in this deep blue district, Lee is almost certainly headed to Harrisburg.

What do you say to those who claim progressive candidates hurt Democrats’ chances?

I don't think it's true. I think the people who say that don't necessarily believe in progressive politics and they project that onto other people.

Politics speaks to everybody if it’s done correctly. My campaign reached people who voted for Bernie Sanders, for Hillary Clinton, for Donald Trump. They were enthusiastic about our message. Everywhere we went, people cared about their kid’s education, their air and their water. They cared about a living wage.

And maybe sometimes words might be frightening to them, like, “oh, you're a socialist.” But we didn't do sensationalism. We were patient, we talked to people about what they care about. We helped them understand that addressing the things they care about isn’t a scary thing, it’s not unattainable.

If someone who was considered a radical black woman can win in a district like this, you can absolutely have progressive politics anywhere in Pennsylvania.

You told CNN recently “capitalism works on the back of my community and communities of color and poor communities across the country.”

I think when you look at the system, at white supremacy, at what we call a meritocracy and at capitalism, you’re quickly able to see which communities were always destined to fail or to be disadvantaged.

People tell us that the things I fought for in my platform are just pie in the sky, being progressive for progressive’s sake. That’s not true. When we ask for free education, we’re not saying that because it sounds nice, we’re saying that because as a young black woman who grew up in a poor black town, my family was not able to amass generational wealth because of the history of capitalism, the history of racism. So when it came time for me to go to college, I was a first- generation college student. I didn't have family members or anyone who could help me offset the costs.

Black students are more likely to shoulder loan debt, which means that we’re more likely to go into the next generation behind. It doesn’t seem like a fair system.

When you look at other industrialized countries, you don't see residents making the hard decision between, am I going to go to the doctor and find out if I just had a heart attack or am I going to pay my bills or am I going to ignore it? That is absurd, but that's how we're living in the United States of America.

We have turned our backs on so many people and I think capitalism has run amuck. I mean, that we’re even talking about capitalism and it's not just like a “Duh.” When we look at just outrageous income inequality, the fact that we have not just revolted is crazy to me.

What are your priorities for your first year?

Now we're looking to other races, we want to make sure that we're helping other candidates. We've built a huge organization that we should be able to mobilize, to tap into, to keep this
people-powered movement powered.

In Harrisburg, if I had to focus on something I would say mass incarceration, doing something on legislation with cash bail and decreasing the prison population. Hand in hand with that is a funding scheme for education, ending the school-to-prison pipeline. And for my town’s sake, I’ve been an advocate for environmental justice and obviously I don’t intend to relent.

If you look at these issues as separate, you’re missing something. Your politics is incomplete.

Average CEO Makes 339 Times More Than their Average Worker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmOJbLuQXDw

Woman dies after police remove her from hospital

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7QE5NU4wZE

Four More Palestinians Killed in Eleventh Week of Non-Violent Gaza Protests

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlcm0Qn0KNY

Ray McGovern at Left Forum 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q75RKjfJ18M