I hope your summer is going well. For the last few weeks, I have been on vacation in the Pacific Northwest with my family, followed by an Alaskan cruise. As many of you know, at 38 years old, I got married in December of last year. We didn't have a chance to go on a honeymoon due to work schedules and the holidays, but we had the opportunity to go on a proper honeymoon this summer... We chose a seven day cruise along Alaska's coast on Oceania's ship, The Regatta. I would highly recommend the cruise if you have any interest in a cruise or Alaska.

The cruise exceeded our expectations. We experienced the best weather that region (Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska) has had in the last three and a half months. We hiked to the top of a 3,000 foot summit overlooking snow-capped mountains where a bald eagle flew right beneath us. While cruising the inside passage, we got into a pod of humpback whales and were blessed with about fifty whales dancing through the water, blowing through their blowholes and showing their magnificent tails. Finally, here is a picture of the Sawyer Glacier... another highlight from the trip.

My apologies for the extended period without any communication. I hope you are doing well. As you already know, the porous border resulting in a mass influx of children has been widely reported and has reached a crisis. I've tried to get more information about the job posting for agents to help the children across the border that was put out on the Department of Homeland Security website, but have received no answers from the lawmakers with whom I've communicated. And they still haven't gotten to the bottom of the missing IRS emails...

However, there's a story you probably haven't heard about yet. As you most likely know, we have been following the FCC's moves to regulate the internet in a way that would benefit companies like AT&T and Comcast, but not you and me. (Remember, the Chairman of the FCC Tom Wheeler is a former lobbyist for the telecommunications and wireless industry.) Here at The Project, we've maintained that major decisions like the ones Wheeler has been trying to push through should be voted on by Congress, not decided on by 5 appointed committee members. However, now it looks like Congress isn't getting it right either.

Yesterday The Hill reported, "The House on Wednesday approved a proposal to prohibit funding for the Federal Communications Commission to implement regulations preempting state laws on Internet access." The measure passed by 233-200 in the House...

I'm in full support of slashing the amount of taxpayer money we give to the FCC. But why is the issue of reducing the FCC's budget related to preempting state laws on Internet access? The two are very different issues. You might wonder what preempting state laws on Internet access even means.

This is nothing more than an effort by the same big companies like AT&T and Comcast to prevent "community broadband networks" i.e., competition. But this time they are going through a Republican to try to solidify their position.

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Let me briefly share some background, and then we will get to the individual who merged the two in-congruent issues into singular legislation.

According to Motherboard, "Across the country, major cable and telecom companies have battled attempts to create community broadband networks, which they claim put them at a competitive disadvantage. Some 20 states have laws on the books that pose barriers to community broadband efforts­−laws that in many cases were pushed by cable and telecom industry lobbyists.”

These community broadband networks would probably provide you with faster, cheaper internet access. And surprisingly, Wheeler has indicated he would use FCC authority to preempt any states' laws that prohibit the furthering of community broadband access. But Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) spearheaded an amendment to a key appropriations bill to prevent the FCC from preempting state laws on Internet access, and the bill passed.

Blackburn made a statement about how this goes against states' rights, but Motherboard adds…

What Blackburn did not mention in her statement was that the nation's largest cable and telecom companies, which have repeatedly funneled buckets of money through political action committees into her reelection campaign coffers, vehemently oppose community broadband efforts. These corporate giants, which already dominate most markets, claim that such initiatives represent unfair competition.

 

Over the last decade, AT&T and Verizon have been Blackburn's second and third largest donors, pouring $66,750 and $59,650 into her campaigns, respectively, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. She's also received $56,000 from the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, an industry trade group, and $36,000 from Comcast, the nation's largest cable company. 

So we've got another instance of crony capitalism on our hands. And I'm more and more convinced our lawmakers on both sides of the aisle don't really understand innovation. Today and every other day, Americans stand together saying, "No Thanks" to crony capitalism.

Keep the feedback coming to wendy@theprojecttorestoreamerica.com. I don't have time to respond to everything, but I do read it all.

Russian separatists shot down a 777 with 300 people on board in eastern Ukraine – Anonymous

Bidwell comment: This is terrible news. At this time, Both sides in Ukraine deny shooting down plane. We don't know for sure who shot the plane down, but the 280 passengers and their families are in our thoughts and prayers.

And then the separatist leader posted a tweet saying something like: that's what you get for flying in our sky because he thought they shot down a cargo plane. And then he deleted the tweet when they realized what they did. – Anonymous

Bidwell comment: Here's more information on this… Stay tuned.

http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=9fef20342eb918a950d416bb0&id=45681241d1&e=8dd2b3dfdd