Internet Activists Urge Congress to Fire Trump's FCC Chief Ajit Pai

Open internet advocates and Democratic lawmakers are mounting a last-ditch effort to remove Federal Communications Commission chief Ajit Pai over his anti-net neutrality stance, just days before Pai is set to be approved by the Senate for a new term. From a report: Since being elevated by President Trump to lead the FCC in January, Pai has become the bete noire of open internet advocates for a variety of anti-consumer actions, but none more so than his crusade to kill federal rules protecting net neutrality, the principle that all internet content should be equally accessible to consumers. [...] During a blistering floor speech on Thursday, Sen. Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat, portrayed Pai, a Republican former Verizon lawyer, as an industry stooge who has worked relentlessly to deliver gift after gift to the nation's largest broadband companies. "Mr. Pai has a long track record of putting big cable before consumers, big corporations above small businesses, and pay-to-play over the free and open internet," Wyden wrote in a blog post accompanying his speech. Free Press, a DC-based public interest group, has also launched a campaign to pressure the Senate to "fire Pai," citing his proposal to kill the FCC's net neutrality policy and other anti-consumer actions. But if reconfirmed, Pai is expected to try to ram through his plan to torpedo the FCC's net neutrality rules before the end of the year. "Rehiring Pai to head the agency that oversees US communications policies would be a boon for the phone and cable companies he eagerly serves," Tim Karr, Free Press Senior Director of Strategy, wrote in a blog post.

My vote

[DarkRookie]

Is for the drawing and quartering.

Re:

[HumanWiki]

For those who haven't seen it before, the phrase "bete noire" is from the French language. "Noire" means "black", as in the color. "Bete" means "penis". In French, adjectives follow the noun they refer to. So the phrase "bete noire" literally means "black penis".

The English equivalent of this phrase is "black sheep".

Now before any BLM types get all up in arms over the use of the word "black" in these sayings, please keep in mind that these are ancient sayings that predate most British and French interaction with Africans or people with darker skin. "Black" in those contexts referred to the darkness of night, and not to anyone's skin color. In a time before electric lighting, and where candles and fire were the main source of light after dark, the blackness of night was tied to feelings of uncertainty and fear.

Thus the word "black", or "noire" in French, came to be associated with negativity. That's why outcasts were called "bete noire" in French, or "black sheep" in English. It's also why the bubonic plague was known as the "black death".

[Logical Explanation Detected]
[Banning IP Address]

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[balbeir]

AFAIK "bete" means "beast".

Re:

[emaname]

AFAIK "bete" means "beast".

Yup. That's what I was taught in my high school advanced English class. It means "black beast."

We're talking about Old French here!

[Anonymous Coward]

You were probably taught Modern French, not Old French, in high school. We're talking about Old French here, because we're discussing the etymology of the phrase "bete noire".

Since we're looking at the origin of the phrase, and it's an ancient phrase, we need to look to the meaning of the word "bete" in Old French, and not its meaning in Modern French.

There are similar situations involving words derived from Old English where the earlier definition differs from the more common Modern English definition, and

Re:

[QRDeNameland]

Being curious, I decided to check this out, and I found nothing to suggest that "bête" was even a common synonym for penis, much less the original meaning.

Wiktionary, which you cite for your examples, says [wiktionary.org] the same thing as the GP: Borrowed from French bête noire (literally "black beast"). Nothing about penises.

Unless you have a source I somehow missed, I conclude "bête means penis" is 100% bullshit.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Except bête means animal, not penis.

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[thomst]

blithely misspoke:

For those who haven't seen it before, the phrase "bete noire" is from the French language. "Noire" means "black", as in the color. "Bete" means "penis".

Mmm ... no. You're correct about the definition of "noire" and profoundly incorrect regarding the word "bête":

Here's one source's definition of "bête" [reverso.net].

As you can see, it best translates to English as "beast". Nor is the above the only authority for that definition.

It may well be that "bête" is also a French slang term for penis, but that is not its primary meaning ...

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[Zontar The Mindless]

You obviously know what you're talking about. What are you doing posting on Slashdot?

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[Zontar The Mindless]

Wrapping *shit somebody obviously made up* in a quote doesn't suddenly make it true.

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[Anonymous Coward]

blithely misspoke:

It may well be that "bête" is also a French slang term for penis, but that is not its primary meaning ...

French native speaker here, one of the (there are more) slang terms for penis is "bite" but certainly not "bête".
And I'm not sure that "black sheep" is the right translation, since it refers to a disease (brebis galeuse in French).
Maybe "bogeyman" but it does not convey exactly the same meaning. Really a "bête noire" is an adversary/opponent
which makes the other side obsessed with him/her.

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[hondo77]

...please keep in mind that these are ancient sayings...

Except it isn't ancient. The first known use [merriam-webster.com] of "bête noire" dates to 1805. So it is "black beast".

Pro Net Neutrality and Pro Internet Censorship

[Jarwulf]

I see a lot of people whining about the FCC's stance turning around and gloating about corporate freedom everytime Apple/Google/Twitter/Facebook/Cloudflare takes down or censors another White nationalist app or alt-right website.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

They're not even remotely the same thing. What is it with the Right and their utter inability to form a coherent analogy????

Re: Pro Net Neutrality and Pro Internet Censorship

[PoopJuggler]

Well look at the idiot they voted into office. Not a lot of smarts on the right.

Re:

[SirSlud]

Net neutrality and terms of service don't have anything to do with each other. Thank you for playing, "Who is a stupid head?" You win.

Re: Pro Net Neutrality and Pro Internet Censorship

[Jarwulf]

What good is a neutral isp if you are immediately censored to oblivion downstream?

Re: Pro Net Neutrality and Pro Internet Censorship

[Anonymous Coward]

What good is a neutral isp if you are immediately censored to oblivion downstream?

Seriously?

Without net neutrality, everyone can be censored. With it, each INDIVIDUAL site has to do the censoring. AT&T can do much more censoring than can facebook.

facebook censors some Nazis, whatever. They move on.

AT&T does it, well, that's a different story.

So in other words, with net neutrality, nothing will be "censored to oblivion". All those alt-right folks are still up an running - just not on some websites

Lastly, corporations do not deserve freedom. They are an abstract legal construct. Unfortunately, in our twisted society where profits count more than people, corporations have been given supper-person status: all the rights of a person but without the responsibilities.

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[Jarwulf]

Go out and see how easy it is to have an internet voice let alone an ebusiness that reaches a significant number of people without relying on anything from Google/Microsoft/Apple/Facebook/Twitter/Amazon and all the other companies in the Silicon Valley mafia.

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[Matt Keith]

You aren't throttled visiting Icelandic sites.

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[postbigbang]

You've never played Whack-a-Mole?

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[modmans2ndcoming]

Fuck you racist. Those are their platforms that they make available for people to buy stuff. ISPs are getting paid for me to access stuff on the internet. I am not their commodity for them to extract value from people looking to send their content to me.

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[Jarwulf]

So wanting to make sure people can't be silenced online simply for having unpopular beliefs makes me a racist? Okay them I'm a proud racist.

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[modmans2ndcoming]

You having a problem with private companies kicking racists off their platforms makes you one of the "many fine people" then.

Not going to happen

[JohnFen]

Ajit Pai is Trump's sort of guy -- advancing the desires of big business over what's good for the average joe.

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[pots]

That may be, but Trump looks out for number one and he seems to be extremely concerned with his public image. If this got enough traction (it won't) then Trump would fire Pai in second, regardless of whether or not he agreed with him.

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[antdude]

Impeach DJT too. :P

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[denzacar]

Ajit Pai is Trump's sort of guy -- advancing the desires of big business over what's good for the average joe.

So were most of these people. [businessinsider.com]

Particularly The Mooch. [youtube.com]

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

TLDR: Sexconker admits he and most Trumpies are scat fetish faggots of no value to America.

Re:

[JackieBrown]

Agreed. But instead he keeps fire those loyal to him. It's getting harder to be understanding about that

Re:

[_Sharp'r_]

Well, at least there's no bias or point of view apparent in the cited "report" nor the summary.

I guess this is still /., editorials (!news) for nerds...

I don't like him either

[H3lldr0p]

but I doubt it's going to happen for two reasons. First is that the FCC isn't one of those headlining institutions that the GOP cares about. In fact, they'd rather it all just go away right now because they can't be bothered to govern let alone care about governing. So as long as Pai isn't causing it to rain on their parade, they couldn't care less. And second, I'm pretty certain if it came down to a close vote there would be more than enough lobbying action on his behalf to see him through. There's a lot of moneyed interests that want to keep him that post.

Not to mention that if does deliver on this agenda there's probably a pretty cushy job waiting for him with whichever telecom or cable operator he chooses when it's all over.

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[phantomfive]

Rallying to get people fired without a coherent replacement plan is a waste of effort. Maybe you'll succeed, but then what? Someone else will take his spot, and nothing will have changed.

The real core of the problem is lack of choice in internet providers. Instead, we should look at places where internet choice has won (places like like Utah or Vermont), figure out what they did right, and do that at a national level.

IF you focus on getting a plan across, sometimes the person you wanted to fire will be

Re:

[zifn4b]

but I doubt it's going to happen for two reasons. First is that the FCC isn't one of those headlining institutions that the GOP cares about. In fact, they'd rather it all just go away right now

You can say all of that about Puerto Rico too, but neither the Internet nor Puerto Rico are "going away right now"

I don't think it would be POSSIBLE to make a more flimsy argument than you just did

Well you certainly invoked a broad interpretation of "they'd rather it all just go away right now". Let's make the set of things represented by "all" to include Anonymous Coward trolls on slashdot because you know, you can do that apparently.

Re:

[zifn4b]

thanks for playing!

No, thank you for playing! You gave me everything I needed. Except, I won't divulge the nature of the game we're playing. That would spoil the OCD paranoia. I think you'll really like it though. Oh alright. It would be rude of my not to give you a hint [wikipedia.org]. Cheers!

Re:

[zifn4b]

you're the one who's providing the analytics engines with data about your personality

Except what you'd really need to get what you want are meta analytics and only I have that. Thanks again for playing. Here's some data analytics for you: I'm an expert at cognitive science and psychology.

When will we all learn...

[Steve Jackson]

All these rich fuks are on the SAME TEAM. They just ACT like they aren't... Its called political theater. And its DESIGNED to keep us bickering. Rather than rising up and ousting the traitors and thieves that line our politics on BOTH sides of the so-called "Fence" Hillary = Bad, Trump = Bad, Ajit Pai = Bad, Government in the modern age = BAD! Its time to Re-establish the Constitution, and remove hundreds of thousands of bad/useless/unconstitutional laws from our books, and burn the Federal Reserve to the

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

And yet one party seems to continually come up with legislation to help the average person, while the other party does the exact opposite every single time.

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[Straif]

And based on your political leanings the two parties referenced in your statement are completely interchangeable.

Re:When will we all learn...

[hondo77]

And based on your political leanings the two parties referenced in your statement are completely interchangeable.

Are you seriously suggesting that Wheeler and Pai are interchangeable as chairmen of the FCC?

See, I don't want to assume you're nuts. I want to make sure.

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[Steve Jackson]

If you think the rich CARE about YOU... It is YOU who are "Nuts" LoL

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[Rakarra]

If you think the rich CARE about YOU... It is YOU who are "Nuts" LoL

Yeah, because all rich people are the same. Just like all poor people are the same, all brown people are the same.
Are you a member of the Green Party, by chance?

Re:

[Steve Jackson]

I love how you people always say this BS. Obamacare, caused my employer to STOP carrying company insurance day 1. Have NOT been able to afford health insurance as a single male since... Going on 10 years. So, yeah, yer full of it too...

Re:

[hondo77]

Given that Obamacare was created less than eight years ago, it couldn't have caused your employer to stop carrying company insurance 9+ years ago.

Re:

[MoarSauce123]

Do the Republicans have anything better to offer? I mean, other than repeal only and replace with tax cuts for the rich? The Reps scream for seven years now that as soon as they get the chance they will repeal and replace. And what do they got? Absolutely freakin nothing! All their proposals are so horribly bad that they cannot even get a majority within their own congress members. That's just utterly pathetic ineptitude. By the way, what about all the promises from the Tea Party idiots or the items in the

If you live in DE, IN, MT, WV or MO call Congress

[MountainLogic]

Senator Coons (D-DE): Call [phone]
Senator Donnelly (D-IN): Call [phone]
Senator Tester (D-MT): Call [phone]
Senator Manchin (D-WV): Call [phone]
Senator McCaskill (D-MO): Call 202-224-6154
These are key swing votes that need to hear from you today!

Re:

[bluefoxlucid]

Where's the Maryland Senator stand on this? I'm not running for Senate (my primary policy interests fall on the House Ways and Means Committee--yes that is an insane amount of power), just curious.

Re:

[MountainLogic]

good place to look for more info is https://www.fightforthefuture.... [fightforthefuture.org]

Firing because of political persuasions

[mi]

Unlike football players [thewrap.com] or other private employees, government employees can not be fired for their political convictions. Because 1st Amendment...

The self-appointed "Internet Activists" can suck my tail...

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[mi]

So, you downmod my perfectly on-topic and sensible — even if contrarian — post as "Troll" and then attack me with childish insults anonymously?.. Maybe you really should concentrate on fulfilling your zoophilic fantasy and post less on /....

Re:

[Zontar The Mindless]

Maybe you should do something about that cognitive dissonance thing, or maybe you've already forgot what your own sig says.

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[MoarSauce123]

You can always get fired for not doing your job or overstepping your boundaries. Both is the case with Pai.

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[mi]

You can always get fired for not doing your job or overstepping your boundaries.

Sure, sure. But that's not what the write-up says, emphasis mine:

Open internet advocates and Democratic lawmakers are mounting a last-ditch effort to remove Federal Communications Commission chief Ajit Pai over his anti-net neutrality stance.

Both is the case with Pai.

Is it? We all know and understand perfectly well, that it is exactly his opinion on net-neutrality, that's causing all this inordinate amount of hate against him. If establishing the "net neutrality" in 2014 was within FCC's boundaries, abolishing it in 2017 is too.

Yo

Sen Cantwell is leading effort to remove Ajit

[MountainLogic]

The Democratic opposition to Ajit Pai's re-confirmation was launched today by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who accused the Federal Communications Commission chairman of abandoning the public interest. Cantwell criticized Pai's in-progress attempt to eliminate net neutrality rules and said he has taken other actions that hurt Americans. [arstechnica.com]

Re:

[JohnFen]

it was your friends, families and neighbors who are the ones who actually put him in charge

Umm, no, it wasn't.

New party needed

[budsetr]

Can we start a new political party, the WTF Party? We just want shit to work. Our Symbol can be the poo emoji.

No foresight

[NaCh0]

This is what democrat politicians are especially bad at - foresight.

They want all of these regulatory bureaucracies but never think about when the pendulum swings and the other party is in charge.

Obama and his pen are another great example. How is that legacy working out for him?

Re:

[MoarSauce123]

So far a heckuva lot better than the national and international destruction course Trump is on.

To all the Trump voters

[MoarSauce123]

Are you happy now? And did your PA coal mine reopen that was closed during Reagonomics time? Redeem yourself and put the "genie" back into the bottle...and then hurl it as far away as you can.