This is your government on Trump
by Tom Sullivan
The FCC voted yesterday to turn over the flow of Internet traffic to commercial entities the day after traffic “into and out of Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and other companies” was, suspiciously and intentionally, redirected through a Russian node. The FCC vote was 3 to 2 along party lines, with Republicans in the majority. The FCC ignored an unprecedented number of public comments, millions of which appeared fraudulent.
Daily Beast adds:
Under the new rules, companies like Comcast could slow access to competitors, effectively making sites aligned with the company—or ones who pay their way out of slow lanes—appear to load faster. Over 56 million American households have no choice in internet service providers in their area, leaving them potentially tethered to an artificially slow internet under the new rules.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman vowed to sue to block the new policy. Schneiderman and other state attorneys general and members of Congress argued that the decision should be delayed because the public comment process had been hijacked.
The president’s son inveighed against the naysayers in a tweet:
I would pay good money to see all those people complaining about Obama’s FCC chairman voting to repeal #NetNeutality actually explain it in detail. I’d also bet most hadn’t heard of it before this week. #outrage— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) December 15, 2017
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was appointed by Junior’s father.
AppleInsider reports on that Wednesday Russian hack:
The incident involved the Border Gateway Protocol, or BGP, which funnels high-level traffic through nodes like internet backbones, according to Ars Technica, citing reports by monitoring services BGPMon and Qrator Labs. BGPMon recorded two three-minute hijacks, affecting 80 address blocks in total. Qrator Labs said the incident spanned two hours, with the number of address blocks fluctuating between 40 and 80.
Some reasons for suspicion include the prominence of the impacted companies, and the fact that IP addresses were split into smaller blocks than those announced by the companies —something that doesn’t normally happen with a BGP configuration error.
The autonomous Russian system that performed the hijack, known as AS39523, was previously inactive for years except for another BGP incident in August that involved Google.
Crooks and Liars highlights an AppleInsider commenter’s take that the event “was likely a test of a future cyber-attack” against what is, in effect, a national security asset.
But as it happens, the president’s Russophilia has his staff censoring references to Russia from his daily security briefings. Mention of Russia makes him peevish:
The Washington Post’s reporting Thursday about how the White House is handling the national security threat from Russia included many disturbing details: senior advisers avoiding the Oval Office so as not to involve President Trump on high-priority issues that chief executives normally would address. Trump’s impatience driving him, in turn, to leave the room during high-stakes national security discussions. Perceived personal insecurities preventing him from accepting high-confidence intelligence community judgments.
Judgement is not the sitting president’s strong suit. Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, himself not the sharpest tool in the GOP shed, questioned Matthew Spencer Petersen, one Trump’s nominees for a US District Court judgeship. Peterson demonstrated his accumulated lack of experience. The exchange went viral last night:
“Have you ever tried a jury trial,” Kennedy asked Petersen. “I have not,” Petersen replied.
Kennedy: “Civil?”
Petersen: “No.”
Kennedy: “Criminal?”
Petersen: “No.”
Kennedy: “Bench?”
Petersen: “No.”
Kennedy: “State or federal court?”
Petersen: “I have not.”
Kennedy: “Have you ever taken a deposition?”
And so on.
WATCH: Senator John Kennedy asks Matthew Spencer Petersen, a commissioner on the Federal Election Commission and nominated by President Trump to serve as a U.S. District Court judge, questions of law. pic.twitter.com/bTkQYNHNGY— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 15, 2017
Somebody is asleep at the switch, but it’s not the Russians. This is your government on Trump. Any questions?
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