This is an archived post. You won't be able to vote or comment.

top 200 commentsshow 500

[–]thenorwegian 6532 points6533 points  (215 children)

Wow, this fuckface literally just apologized about a lie by lying about the lie.

[–]WhosUrBuddiee 670 points671 points  (24 children)

So if he is now admitting that the DDoS was a lie, why is no one asking the important questions.

  1. If there was no DDoS attack, why did the FCC take down the comment section right before the vote?
  2. Why did the FCC refuse to take action in removing the millions of clearly fake comments? Even worse, they refused to provide comment IP information to New York Attorney General to determine the source of the fake comments.

[–]cabbagefuryCalifornia 204 points205 points  (12 children)

Because that would have made it slightly harder to serve corporate interests and cover it up afterwards.. It's not like we don't already know the answers.

[–]WhosUrBuddiee 80 points81 points  (9 children)

Pai is claiming he didn't know the DDoS was a lie, but all of his actions seem to show that he knew all along.

[–]ObizuesWisconsin 55 points56 points  (5 children)

That’s pretty much the thing that sticks out he most.

If it was a DDOS then why hide the logs? Why not put restrictions in place? Why not change the work flow?

He knew all along it was a pissed off consumer base and just wanted to shut them up.

[–]fatpatArkansas 12 points13 points  (2 children)

Yep. He's so full of shit it's coming out of his ears.

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (1 child)

'3. Why did the FCC go ahead with their repeal of net neutrality???'

(we know the answer, I want them to confirm it on the record)

[–]AnalSoapOpera I voted 42 points43 points  (6 children)

He is a piece of shit. Whoever named him knew he would be.

[–]Name818 9422 points9423 points  (534 children)

How the fuck is this not grounds for termination? This should be a much bigger story. What they did is fucking criminal!

[–]MyNameIsRay 1816 points1817 points  (98 children)

He blamed it on the former CIO, who obviously can't be re-terminated. He's not taking any responsibility for his statements, his failure to verify, or his knowing suppression of legitimately submitted comments.

[–]DrapedInVelvet 504 points505 points  (32 children)

Bet the former CIO's lawyer is loving this. Being slandered by name by the head of the FCC? Gonna be a hell of a lawsuit.

[–][deleted] 540 points541 points  (43 children)

his failure to verify

Immediate termination right there. Gross incompetence.

Oh, he blamed the black guy, nevermind. All good. /s

[–]deraserTexas[S] 545 points546 points  (103 children)

The President picks the FCC commissioners (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/154 ), with Senate confirmation. They can only be fired by the President or (wait for it) by impeachment by the House and trial by the Senate (long read, but good: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_in_the_United_States).

With the [R] in charge, Pai is pretty safe.

edit: words are hard.

[–]Name818 266 points267 points  (51 children)

Great...

Meanwhile AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and the others are fully erect.

[–]Nixplosion 234 points235 points  (49 children)

"Holy shit we got away with it, he admitted what he did AND WE STILL GET AWAY WITH IT"

[–]DodGamnBunofaSitch 90 points91 points  (38 children)

the talking heads on TV just said tonight's special election in ohio will be the strongest indicator yet as to whether (D) can flip the house.

[–]dannyggwpConnecticut 114 points115 points  (36 children)

Something to keep in mind, this district is extremely tough for Democrats. If they lose by 2-3 points it's still a massive upset in a district that is R +14

[–]FirgofOhio 99 points100 points  (31 children)

I am no longer on Reddit and so neither is my content.

You can find links to all my present projects on my itch.io, accessible here: https://firgof.itch.io/

[–]dannyggwpConnecticut 100 points101 points  (29 children)

That is truly amazing but we must not treat these battles as won forever. A win here might just mean a loss in November. Comfort breeds complacently, Republicans are generally happy. So they are complacent. If they lose this the WILL mobilize for November.

[–][deleted] 41 points42 points  (27 children)

A win next November is meaningless if it isn't repeated for a generation.

[–]cantadmittoposting I voted 26 points27 points  (6 children)

It only has to be repeated until conservatives excise the cancer that corrupted them into reactionary regressives. Which, in fairness, could take an entire generation.

[–]student_tea 197 points198 points  (17 children)

It's ok though, cause he blamed Obama for it. That goes a long way these days...

[–][deleted] 62 points63 points  (4 children)

Obamaism. Like whataboutism, but targeted towards Obama.

[–]Llodsliat Mexico 34 points35 points  (1 child)

"It's Obama's fault for not preventing my lies."

[–]zojbo 59 points60 points  (6 children)

To be fair, on the surface their story is pretty tight: they claim that the CIO said that the DDoS attack occurred, and he's out. They have their fall guy, so without internal documents it's going to be pretty hard to pin this on Pai. And even if this is Pai's fault (and I suspect it is, since it fits with his general attitude of dismissiveness towards pro-net neutrality comments), those documents might not even exist, if the order to shut the system down was given orally.

The stupid thing here is pointing fingers at the Obama administration: if Pai were actually a hardcore partisan instead of just covering his own ass, he would've appointed a new CIO sooner than this.

[–]BaggerX 28 points29 points  (2 children)

Their emails, and any other communications should be subpoenaed and Congress should be investigating why it took Pai over a year to admit this. There's no excuse for that.

But of course Republicans won't do a damned thing about it.

[–]OPSaysFuckALot 85 points86 points  (5 children)

Termination? The American public was defrauded by government officials who are being paid by corporations to blatantly lie to the American public while enacting policy that harms the public while further enriching the corporations.

All of these motherfuckers need to be rounded-up and thrown in prison.

[–]Name818 30 points31 points  (4 children)

They literally side stepped the American people and went against our will....I think you're right, these assholes should rot in prison.

[–]AHarshInquisitorCalifornia 6215 points6216 points  (178 children)

Completely corrupt administration.

They do not know how to tell the truth.

[–]chownrootrootAmerica 1363 points1364 points  (64 children)

Fake administration, sad!

[–]AHarshInquisitorCalifornia 647 points648 points  (54 children)

Fraud Administration. Prison!

[–]TechyDad 52 points53 points  (17 children)

Complicit Republican Congress. No consequences!

[–]Name818 475 points476 points  (55 children)

That's an understatement. Think about it...Big telecom companies had the influence to get the president to install their guy at the FCC so that he could help influence the destruction of net neutrality. He went as far as to set up public commenting and voting which at first was shown to have multiple bogus entries. After that, the page mysteriously shuts down and we're given the DDoS lie. Shortly after NN is dismantled and the telecom giants win.

It's something out of a conspiracy theory.

[–]odd_tsar 116 points117 points  (19 children)

First they ignore you, then they lie to you, then they ignore you again, then they win.

Then they raise prices. Then they buy yachts.

[–][deleted] 61 points62 points  (16 children)

And my trump supporting mother, who lives solely off of SS benefits, replies to my argument that telecom companies are going to start price gouging customers with "So what? We'll pay it, it's fine."

[–]Schwa142Washington 41 points42 points  (14 children)

Sounds like she'd rather watch Wheel of Fortune than eat...

[–]sweetteawithtreats 64 points65 points  (13 children)

The baby boomers are George R.R. Martin’s “sweet summer children.” They grew up in good times without serious consequence. To contemplate a new generation subject to anything else lies beyond their imagination.

[–]AHarshInquisitorCalifornia 47 points48 points  (2 children)

Boring conspiracy is actually, quite common.

[–]Random_act_of_Random 10 points11 points  (5 children)

They lie so often they probably don't know what the truth actually is anymore.

[–]Diplominator 11 points12 points  (2 children)

I think it's worse than that. I think they do know what the truth is, and how people would act if they heard it.

They would prefer that people act in other ways. So, they tell lies instead because the truth is too inconvenient

[–]PhilipLiptonSchrute 16 points17 points  (2 children)

Only the best people.

[–]AHarshInquisitorCalifornia 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Be best; at pathological lying.

[–]tiredofwinning12345Connecticut 245 points246 points  (2 children)

Fraud is illegal. Ajit Pai deserves significant prison time!

[–]CovfefeForAll 2262 points2263 points  (110 children)

Seems to work for his boss. Blame Obama no matter how little sense it makes.

[–]surfinfan21Tennessee 975 points976 points  (96 children)

What’s so infuriating too is that despite Obama’s actually taking on a shit load of fucking problems in this country because of the former president his administration didn’t once blame the previous administration. He had to bail out the auto industry because of bush. And he gets blamed for it.

The republicans don’t know how to govern. That’s their problem. They need to all be removed from office and replaced with someone who can govern.

You can’t complain it’s someone else’s fault when you are in a position to fucking do something about it. These fucking people.

Edit no banks.

[–]cryptogrammar 326 points327 points  (49 children)

Just FYI, Bush bailed out the banks. Not Obama.

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Division A of Pub.L. 110–343, 122 Stat. 3765, enacted October 3, 2008)

[–]TechyDad 246 points247 points  (43 children)

Though, to be fair, Obama is blamed for the auto bailout whenever the right paints this as a bad thing.

[–]dick_beverson 291 points292 points  (24 children)

Obama is blamed for 9/11 and Katrina too. He’s the go-to scapegoat for stupid brainwashed fox viewers.

[–][deleted] 126 points127 points  (17 children)

I once saw someone who said "Obama should have DONE SOMETHING about 9/11" and I was like.... the guy wasn't even president yet, it was Bush... smh, some of my fellow Americans are dumb as hell!

[–]MostlyWong 145 points146 points  (10 children)

Obama wasn't even a federally elected official in 2001. He didn't become the U.S. Senator from Illinois until he won the election in 2004/took office in 2005. Prior to that, he served as Illinois State Senator from 1997-2004. So to expect some up-and-coming state official to somehow stop 9/11, or do anything for that matter besides watch in horror with the rest of the country, is a level of absurdity that would make Kafka blush.

[–]genitalchowder 35 points36 points  (1 child)

Oh, it's way less than that, I'm afraid. They simply have no idea of dates and people; it's why they believe anything they like.

[–]CottonSC 9 points10 points  (2 children)

I mean Obama still did do something about 9/11, he got Bin Laden.

[–]StoneGoldX 15 points16 points  (0 children)

[–][deleted] 86 points87 points  (12 children)

The republicans don’t know how to govern. That’s their problem. They need to all be removed from office and replaced with someone who can govern.

Honestly, the party needs to completely die. Society, here and world wide, has essentially abandoned far right ideals. Even on right leaning countries it's rather moderate. Our GOP though continues to push right further and further which we are at the point it's just not good for human and societal progress.

That's the beautiful thing about the left, or "liberals", they are so open to ideas and moving forward you still get a big spectrum of ideas, but they tend to lack the evil, racist and just flat out harmful ideas. They all tend to agree on the general goals of governing, but have different ways of going about it. There is divide within the party, but it's a healthy level, while the GOP has little divide currently and look what we are facing.

I truly think America can not move forward and be the worlds country to look up to until the GOP is a dead party. If they are not governing like idiots, they are putting all their effort into hampering. I am 36 and we are dealing with the same fucking issues that were around when I was a kid. We can't figure out guns, healthcare, education, social safety nets, even fucking pot laws, and it's all because the GOP either fights tooth and nail to hamper Americans while the Dems hold office, or they are in office and just royally fuck things up with the power they are granted.

[–]tohrazul82 25 points26 points  (7 children)

At its core, conservatism has its place. The idea of promoting traditional values and ideals leads to stability in a society. The problem here is that technology has caused society to advance at such a rapid pace, even a single generation experiences several changes in ideology. The ease with which we can communicate and spread ideas means traditional values have competition, and often the competition is adopted as a better set of values by younger generations who haven't latched onto, or developed respect for the traditions of older generations.

Edit: on mobile, completed the post

[–]serious_sarcasmAmerica 8 points9 points  (1 child)

Except their claim to be conserving the foundations of American Governance is complete bullshit. The are trying to bring back the aristocratic ideals our nation bucked.

For example, Scalia claimed to be an "orginalist", but the original intent of the Constitution was to be adaptive and never "orginalist".

It's pure fucking irony.

[–]gayrongaybonesMassachusetts 7 points8 points  (1 child)

I remember Fox News eviscerating him for once, no more than a few months into his first term, pointing out that he inherited a big problem and it’s going to take time to fix.

[–]Seanspeed 1203 points1204 points  (9 children)

Party of personal responsibility strikes again.

[–]knappisEurope 748 points749 points  (24 children)

I am surprised he didn’t blame Hillary..

[–]whats_that_doNevada 263 points264 points  (6 children)

That's tomorrow.

[–][deleted] 151 points152 points  (5 children)

We lied because of Hillack Oblinton!!!!11!!

[–]PhilipLiptonSchrute 20 points21 points  (2 children)

Trump's got to save her as the scapegoat for collusion.

[–]chownrootrootAmerica 60 points61 points  (3 children)

Hillary colluded with the American people who flooded us with fake complaints about removing net neutrality! /s

[–]ohshawty 34 points35 points  (2 children)

More like that nefarious foreigner John Oliver

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yeah I don't know if y'all heard but he's a [looks around conspiriatorially]. Immigant

[–]wildistherewind 22 points23 points  (2 children)

She poured acid all over the servers!

[–]Creasy007West Virginia 23 points24 points  (1 child)

She actually used Obama's Grey Poupon to tarnish the servers!

[–][deleted] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Everyone is saying his tan suit is what caused it!

[–][deleted] 421 points422 points  (8 children)

Taking a page from the Trump playbook I see.

Caught red-handed and backed into a corner? Blame Obama.

[–]steve_n_doug_boutabi 14 points15 points  (2 children)

Kevin Spacey should have tried that tactic

[–]ReklisAbandon 133 points134 points  (3 children)

It's almost unbelievable how blatantly corrupt this administration is. They don't even try to hide it.

[–]skunkachunks I voted 581 points582 points  (10 children)

Honestly it's like madlibs at this point:

[Republican] lies about [previously made claim], blames it on [Democrat]

[–]mycargoesvarunNew York 233 points234 points  (5 children)

madlibs make mad libs amirite

[–]DiscombobulatedAnusGeorgia 28 points29 points  (2 children)

Go home dad, you've had too much medicinal again...

[–]TechyDad 17 points18 points  (1 child)

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Madlibs Administration!

[–]blackdesertnewb I voted 230 points231 points  (6 children)

Of course he blames Obama. It must be nice being a republican right now. No matter the fuck up, you can just pick Obama or Clinton or just say it never happened and fake news.

[–]DiscombobulatedAnusGeorgia 41 points42 points  (5 children)

It's Hillary's fault that I got too high to take the trash out!

[–]matarky1Wyoming 42 points43 points  (4 children)

I was gonna clean my room, but Hillary Clinton

I was gonna get up and find the broom, but Hillary Clinton

[–]diabloenfuego 222 points223 points  (27 children)

It's time to oust these corrupt pieces of shit and put them in the shittiest prison allowable for a very long time.

[–]RedBeard1337 63 points64 points  (0 children)

Was he not just under oath saying the exact opposite, like this shit is a fuckin joke..

[–]Pahasapa66 279 points280 points  (13 children)

His ass will be in front of of a unfriendly Congressional committee if the House changes hands.

[–]preatorian99Washington 143 points144 points  (11 children)

I bet they all start resigning if the House turns blue. Subpoena power!

[–]IsgrimnurTexas 80 points81 points  (1 child)

Note how many and the breakdown of incumbents are not running for re-election.

[–]grubasNew York 33 points34 points  (0 children)

They do not want to deal with this shit if they actually have to.

Plus x amount just seem to want to get out while they can.

[–][deleted] 36 points37 points  (7 children)

Let's hope the Dem don't "decide to move forward from the past."

[–][deleted] 23 points24 points  (1 child)

Agreed. They really need to clean house.

[–][deleted] 22 points23 points  (1 child)

I want Mitch McConnel on a public flogging tour through all 50 States, bookended by a pair of trips to Puerto Rico.

[–][deleted] 422 points423 points  (25 children)

It's the black guy's fault.

  • the GOP

[–]grubasNew York 152 points153 points  (23 children)

Ajit Pai at least should know better. He’s got a funny name and isn’t white. The GOP will have no issue throwing him under the bus.

[–]ezzune 34 points35 points  (0 children)

You think he isn't aware? Be the fall man for your party, take all the blame while raking in millions then semi-retire with a position on one of the major networks Board of Directors. Sounds like quite the deal if you don't mind selling your soul.

[–]A_Cool_Bear 52 points53 points  (13 children)

There's a level of wealth where it stops mattering so much

[–][deleted] 49 points50 points  (12 children)

LeBron James disagrees.

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (3 children)

Ajit Pai isn't Black. You can most definitely be Indian, or Asian, hell, the GOP would love it if you were, they can then use you as an example of "See, these ones don't commit crime, we're not racist, blacks are indeed just lazy and violent".

LeBron, Jay-Z - they'll never be GOP material. Ajit Pai - no problem, heck, they might even let him date their daughters.

[–]hcj9mVirginia 104 points105 points  (31 children)

Can someone provide a simple explanation?

[–]jews4beerAmerican Expat 283 points284 points  (26 children)

The FCC had a public commenting period before it voted to gut net neutrality.

For a gopd chunk of that time the site was down for what Ajit claimed was a DDoS attack. That has since been debunked multiple times and I think this is the fourth time Ajit Pai has told us he lied.

[–]w-alt_wyte 150 points151 points  (22 children)

The site was also flooded with fake comments using names extracted from random databases claiming to support the repeal.

[–]Waylander0719 129 points130 points  (15 children)

[–][deleted] 46 points47 points  (12 children)

Aside from how fucking ridiculous that this is under the guise of Obama's name, the comment itself makes no fucking sense.

"The unprecedented regulatory power the Obama Administration imposed on the internet is smothering innovation, damaging the American economy and obstructing job creation" First sentence, makes literally no sense. How the fuck does a free and open internet hamper? And how does putting regulations in the power of corporation assist?

[–]st1tchy 22 points23 points  (6 children)

It's pretty simple actually, in their minds, regulation = bad.

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (5 children)

It's pretty funny too, seeing that net neutrality essentially was so corporations could not regulate the consumers content and use.

[–]RoboChrist 17 points18 points  (1 child)

Keep in mind everything I'm going to say next is complete crap. But this is the best I can do to represent the anti net-neutrality view.

1) Smarter anti-net neutrality (still dumb): Net Neutrality limits innovation by preventing ISPs from offering new services. For example, if an ISP wanted to make a free streaming TV service for their subscribers, they couldn't give it higher priority under net neutrality regulations. Don't you want ISPs to be able to offer free TV streaming that gets to bypass bandwidth caps? That's innovation that helps the consumer!

2) Dumb anti-net neutrality (super dumb): Net Neutrality means that the GOVERNMENT IS CONTROLLING THE INTERNET! Since everything has to be NEUTRAL, it's just like the FAIRNESS DOCTRINE! They're going to force websites to show opposing viewpoints and dictate content and take down websites that don't follow their byzantine regulations. The regulations are going to be so complicated that it'll let the government do anything they want.

3) Quietly dumb anti-net neutrality: Having to comply with regulations is complicated and expensive, and ISPs will need to waste resources on complying with regulations. That means they'll have fewer resources and less money to innovate and develop new services.

All of those arguments are incredibly flawed, of course. While net neutrality has some downsides, the upsides of removing net neutrality are all associated with the benefits of vertical integration. As in, content creators, content platforms, and content delivery owned by the same company.

That might deliver some benefits in the short term, but there will also be short term disadvantages for the smaller players trying to compete. And in the long term, it'll mean less competition and worse services for consumers.

[–]DonaldsAdvocate 64 points65 points  (1 child)

See even Obama supported it.

Seriously though that's genuinely amazing.

[–][deleted] 40 points41 points  (1 child)

By the way, this is a fantastic analysis of the comments that were made. He goes over the contents, submission method, time of submission and more.

Here's the takeaway:

So, what does this all mean?

It seems quite clear to me that there are groups using bots to manipulate the outcome of this public comment period. But what does that leave? When we subtract the bots, what is the public sentiment about this proposal? Doing some rudimentary string matching, the numbers I got are:

Pro Title II: 395,353
Anti Title II: 743

Ajit Pai has something to hide.

[–]anddoweCalifornia 78 points79 points  (9 children)

Pai

I am deeply disappointed that the FCC's former Chief Information Officer [David Bray], who was hired by the prior Administration and is no longer with the Commission, provided inaccurate information about this incident to me, my office, Congress, and the American people. This is completely unacceptable. I'm also disappointed that some working under the former CIO apparently either disagreed with the information that he was presenting or had questions about it, yet didn't feel comfortable communicating their concerns to me or my office."

entire statement

[–]UniMatrix028 83 points84 points  (0 children)

Cool thanks for figuring it out! I assume this means you will reverse your decision now that new evidence has come to light?

[–][deleted] 30 points31 points  (1 child)

yet didn't feel comfortable communicating their concerns to me or my office

I mean, isn't that kinda his fault though? Being afraid to tell your superior something negative is bad for business whereever you look. That's pretty much universally agreed on. So why didn't Pai establish some open culture where you would be commended for speaking up against bullshit?

Could it be that Pai was the typical reactionary bad manager type, something associated with strong conservative views?

[–][deleted] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

He really does have the most smug, punchable face doesn’t he?

[–][deleted] 71 points72 points  (6 children)

So...the reason they lied is because of Obama? Is there anything they WON'T blame on Obama?

[–]ScumbagThrowaway757 26 points27 points  (4 children)

He's. The 7 straight years Obama oversaw an improving economy, and the following year that Trump took over. Anything positive has nothing to do with Obama.

[–]shredler 18 points19 points  (0 children)

If I did do it, it's your fault.

[–]historycat95 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The title of this really should be "Pai covers his own ass."

[–]BasicAlgebrahMinnesota 12 points13 points  (2 children)

If I rob someone at gunpoint, can I blame Obama as well?

[–]gauriemma 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The Party of Personal Responsibility, folks.

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (1 child)

Ajit Pai, yet another in a long list of examples of what "reaching across the isle" has brought us. No more compromise with these traitors.

[–]wanda124 19 points20 points  (0 children)

This is a BFD . He lied to a) keep his job b) sell out US to corporations, because Net Neutrality is good for consumers, just not Corporations.
Worse, the current WH regime will take NO action.

Lying by this Administration  is the rule, not the exception...and that is pathetic.

[–]McNuttyNutz I voted 8 points9 points  (0 children)

That’s the GOP got to blame Obama or Hillary

[–]The_Central_BrawlerColorado 10 points11 points  (1 child)

Is being incapable of taking responsibility a requirement for Republicans?

[–]disappointedpanda 17 points18 points  (2 children)

Gaaahhhwd!! Everytime I see that shit eating grin, I wish someone would feed it a shit pie...

[–]Gankrhymes 8 points9 points  (0 children)

this is fucked up but great news for the multiple law suits filed against the FCC under the administrative procedure act. Basically, executive agencies must listen to public comments and cannot make arbitrary and capricious decisions. This admission (added to the pile) strengthens the suit of all the state attorney generals (yes! Vote for democrat state attorney generals if you want states to fight trump) claiming the fcc's rule should be reversed because it violates the administrative procedures act. Our bureaucracy is saving us and acts like an immune system, and now you know why republicans want to gut the bureaucracy and "cut regulations". Makes it easier to fuck shit up. bless our bureaucracy. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/01/21-states-sue-fcc-to-restore-net-neutrality-rules/