SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
This moving billboard accompanied a protest at a Comcast shareholders meeting in Philadelphia on May 21, 2014. (Photo courtesy of Media Mobilizing Project)
Sixty-five consumer, social justice, and media reform organizations on Monday released an open letter urging the Federal Communications Commission to reject the proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable on the basis that it would "inevitably lead to unprecedented gatekeeper control over our nation's telecommunications and media landscape."
The letter was timed for the final day of the FCC's public comment period, which concludes Monday at midnight.
In submitting the statement, the organizations add to the growing numbers of people across the United States who vocally oppose the deal--from street protests to petitions, including one that garnered 400,000 signatures.
Announced in February, Comcast's proposed $70 billion merger (including $45 billion in equity and $25 billion worth of debt) with its largest cable competitor would give the company control over high-speed internet access for nearly 40 percent of U.S. consumers and two-thirds of the cable market.
The letter--signed by organizations including the Media Mobilizing Project, Center for Media Justice, Color of Change, and Center for Rural Strategies--warns that the pact "would allow Comcast to use its increased market power, and increased control over millions more customers, to dictate terms to broadband content providers and increase its leverage over cable programmers."
Comcast has sought to curry political and public favor by championing the "Internet Essentials" program it says provides affordable broadband service to low-income communities and presenting itself as a defender of net neutrality. But Timothy Karr of Free Press, one of the organizations that signed onto the letter, told Common Dreams that this is empty rhetoric is aimed at "sweetening the deal in the eyes of regulators."
"The company has no real interest in offering low-cost internet access to communities, and a lot of people in low income communities have complained," he said. "Furthermore, Comcast is actively funding organizations that are outspoken in their opposition to net neutrality and has championed the rolling back of net neutrality."
According to the letter, Comcast has already found numerous ways to leverage its "market power to hike consumer prices" and "charge new tolls for Internet content and create special exemptions for its own video services."
The letter argues that the merger would further devastate media localism, diversity, and democracy:
At the state level, firms like Comcast have lobbied for "State Franchising" bills that have stripped municipalities of the power to negotiate franchise agreements with cable companies. This merger would also further the need for measures promoting diversity in ownership. The FCC's most recent statistics found that already low ownership levels for people of color have only gotten worse. Allowing Comcast to merge with Time Warner Cable would only continue the trend away from the diverse local media our communities need.
The company's merger with NBC in 2011 already gave it control over numerous stations and networks. Meanwhile, Comcast has hired a small army of lobbyists to push through the deal, in what The Hill referred to in May as a "shock and awe" political pressure campaign. But the merger is not the only issue Comcast has fought for. The company has also lobbied aggressively against net neutrality, is a prominent backer of the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council, and in 2012 even lobbied to defeat a measure in Philadelphia which would have ensured paid sick days for thousands of workers.
The merger must pass two regulatory bodies to go through: the FCC, which will determine whether the deal is in the public good, and the Department of Justice, which will look at issues pertaining to antitrust laws.
Donald Trump’s attacks on democracy, justice, and a free press are escalating — putting everything we stand for at risk. We believe a better world is possible, but we can’t get there without your support. Common Dreams stands apart. We answer only to you — our readers, activists, and changemakers — not to billionaires or corporations. Our independence allows us to cover the vital stories that others won’t, spotlighting movements for peace, equality, and human rights. Right now, our work faces unprecedented challenges. Misinformation is spreading, journalists are under attack, and financial pressures are mounting. As a reader-supported, nonprofit newsroom, your support is crucial to keep this journalism alive. Whatever you can give — $10, $25, or $100 — helps us stay strong and responsive when the world needs us most. Together, we’ll continue to build the independent, courageous journalism our movement relies on. Thank you for being part of this community. |
Sixty-five consumer, social justice, and media reform organizations on Monday released an open letter urging the Federal Communications Commission to reject the proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable on the basis that it would "inevitably lead to unprecedented gatekeeper control over our nation's telecommunications and media landscape."
The letter was timed for the final day of the FCC's public comment period, which concludes Monday at midnight.
In submitting the statement, the organizations add to the growing numbers of people across the United States who vocally oppose the deal--from street protests to petitions, including one that garnered 400,000 signatures.
Announced in February, Comcast's proposed $70 billion merger (including $45 billion in equity and $25 billion worth of debt) with its largest cable competitor would give the company control over high-speed internet access for nearly 40 percent of U.S. consumers and two-thirds of the cable market.
The letter--signed by organizations including the Media Mobilizing Project, Center for Media Justice, Color of Change, and Center for Rural Strategies--warns that the pact "would allow Comcast to use its increased market power, and increased control over millions more customers, to dictate terms to broadband content providers and increase its leverage over cable programmers."
Comcast has sought to curry political and public favor by championing the "Internet Essentials" program it says provides affordable broadband service to low-income communities and presenting itself as a defender of net neutrality. But Timothy Karr of Free Press, one of the organizations that signed onto the letter, told Common Dreams that this is empty rhetoric is aimed at "sweetening the deal in the eyes of regulators."
"The company has no real interest in offering low-cost internet access to communities, and a lot of people in low income communities have complained," he said. "Furthermore, Comcast is actively funding organizations that are outspoken in their opposition to net neutrality and has championed the rolling back of net neutrality."
According to the letter, Comcast has already found numerous ways to leverage its "market power to hike consumer prices" and "charge new tolls for Internet content and create special exemptions for its own video services."
The letter argues that the merger would further devastate media localism, diversity, and democracy:
At the state level, firms like Comcast have lobbied for "State Franchising" bills that have stripped municipalities of the power to negotiate franchise agreements with cable companies. This merger would also further the need for measures promoting diversity in ownership. The FCC's most recent statistics found that already low ownership levels for people of color have only gotten worse. Allowing Comcast to merge with Time Warner Cable would only continue the trend away from the diverse local media our communities need.
The company's merger with NBC in 2011 already gave it control over numerous stations and networks. Meanwhile, Comcast has hired a small army of lobbyists to push through the deal, in what The Hill referred to in May as a "shock and awe" political pressure campaign. But the merger is not the only issue Comcast has fought for. The company has also lobbied aggressively against net neutrality, is a prominent backer of the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council, and in 2012 even lobbied to defeat a measure in Philadelphia which would have ensured paid sick days for thousands of workers.
The merger must pass two regulatory bodies to go through: the FCC, which will determine whether the deal is in the public good, and the Department of Justice, which will look at issues pertaining to antitrust laws.
Sixty-five consumer, social justice, and media reform organizations on Monday released an open letter urging the Federal Communications Commission to reject the proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable on the basis that it would "inevitably lead to unprecedented gatekeeper control over our nation's telecommunications and media landscape."
The letter was timed for the final day of the FCC's public comment period, which concludes Monday at midnight.
In submitting the statement, the organizations add to the growing numbers of people across the United States who vocally oppose the deal--from street protests to petitions, including one that garnered 400,000 signatures.
Announced in February, Comcast's proposed $70 billion merger (including $45 billion in equity and $25 billion worth of debt) with its largest cable competitor would give the company control over high-speed internet access for nearly 40 percent of U.S. consumers and two-thirds of the cable market.
The letter--signed by organizations including the Media Mobilizing Project, Center for Media Justice, Color of Change, and Center for Rural Strategies--warns that the pact "would allow Comcast to use its increased market power, and increased control over millions more customers, to dictate terms to broadband content providers and increase its leverage over cable programmers."
Comcast has sought to curry political and public favor by championing the "Internet Essentials" program it says provides affordable broadband service to low-income communities and presenting itself as a defender of net neutrality. But Timothy Karr of Free Press, one of the organizations that signed onto the letter, told Common Dreams that this is empty rhetoric is aimed at "sweetening the deal in the eyes of regulators."
"The company has no real interest in offering low-cost internet access to communities, and a lot of people in low income communities have complained," he said. "Furthermore, Comcast is actively funding organizations that are outspoken in their opposition to net neutrality and has championed the rolling back of net neutrality."
According to the letter, Comcast has already found numerous ways to leverage its "market power to hike consumer prices" and "charge new tolls for Internet content and create special exemptions for its own video services."
The letter argues that the merger would further devastate media localism, diversity, and democracy:
At the state level, firms like Comcast have lobbied for "State Franchising" bills that have stripped municipalities of the power to negotiate franchise agreements with cable companies. This merger would also further the need for measures promoting diversity in ownership. The FCC's most recent statistics found that already low ownership levels for people of color have only gotten worse. Allowing Comcast to merge with Time Warner Cable would only continue the trend away from the diverse local media our communities need.
The company's merger with NBC in 2011 already gave it control over numerous stations and networks. Meanwhile, Comcast has hired a small army of lobbyists to push through the deal, in what The Hill referred to in May as a "shock and awe" political pressure campaign. But the merger is not the only issue Comcast has fought for. The company has also lobbied aggressively against net neutrality, is a prominent backer of the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council, and in 2012 even lobbied to defeat a measure in Philadelphia which would have ensured paid sick days for thousands of workers.
The merger must pass two regulatory bodies to go through: the FCC, which will determine whether the deal is in the public good, and the Department of Justice, which will look at issues pertaining to antitrust laws.
"What will come out next about Bove?" said one senator as a confirmation vote loomed. "That's precisely the problem with this disaster of a nominee. And why Senate Republicans are rushing through his nomination."
With the U.S. Senate poised to vote as early as Tuesday on Trump administration official Emil Bove's nomination for a lifetime appointment as a federal judge, a third whistleblower came forward with information about Bove's conduct at the Department of Justice and Democratic senators made their latest push to stop his confirmation.
As The Washington Post reported, a whistleblower shared evidence with lawmakers that Bove, the principal associate deputy attorney general and a former personal attorney to President Donald Trump, misled the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding his role in the DOJ's dismissal of corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
During his confirmation hearing in June, Bove told senators that U.S. District Judge Dale Ho granted the DOJ's motion to dismiss the Adams case because it "reflected a valid exercise of prosecutorial discretion."
He denied the existence of the DOJ deal with Adams to drop the charges in exchange for the mayor's cooperation with Trump's mass deportation agenda, saying that "the suggestion that there was some kind of quid pro quo was just plain false."
The decision to drop the charges led several prosecutors to resign from the DOJ in protest.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee and condemned Republicans' decision to advance Bove's nomination earlier this month, first received evidence from the third whistleblower, according to the Post. Several other Democrats have also reviewed the evidence, which Booker told the outlet was "significant."
"We have substantial information relevant to the truthfulness of the nominee," Booker said on the Senate floor, calling on Republicans on the committee to review the new evidence.
"Another whistleblower has come forward with evidence that raises serious concerns with Emil Bove's misconduct. Senate Republicans will bear full responsibility for the consequences if they rubber stamp Mr. Bove's nomination."
Lawyers for the anonymous whistleblower told the Post on Tuesday that they had turned over the new information provided by the person to the DOJ inspector general.
Booker was joined by Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Tuesday in calling on the DOJ's inspector general to promptly open an investigation into Bove in light of the latest whistleblower complaint.
"In the event these whistleblower complaints and other reports have not already prompted investigations by your office, we urge you to undertake a thorough review of these disclosures and allegations," said the lawmakers.
Two other whistleblowers have come forward in recent weeks, alleging Bove told DOJ lawyers to ignore court orders that would impede Trump's mass deportation agenda. Former DOJ attorneys and federal and state judges have urged the Senate to oppose his nomination.
Schiff condemned Republicans on the committee for attempting to dismiss the whistleblowers' complaints.
"What will come out next about Bove?" said Schiff. "That's precisely the problem with this disaster of a nominee. And why Senate Republicans are rushing through his nomination. Before more disqualifying information can come out."
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) emphasized that the fight to stop Bove's confirmation "isn't over, even when subservient Senate Republicans ignore another whistleblower and shove this character through their new-low, hide-the-ball Senate confirmation process and onto the bench."
Republicans can afford to lose only three votes for Bove and still confirm him with a tie-breaker vote from Vice President JD Vance. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) are expected to oppose him.
Josh Sorbe, a spokesperson for Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the Judiciary Committee's ranking member, said the latest complaint is "another damning indictment of a man who should never be a federal judge."
"Another whistleblower has come forward with evidence that raises serious concerns with Emil Bove's misconduct," said Sorbe. "Senate Republicans will bear full responsibility for the consequences if they rubber stamp Mr. Bove's nomination."
"Our labor organization has every intention to oppose this merger," said SMART-TD, America's largest railroad operating union.
Major unions on Tuesday slammed plans for an $85 billion merger between railway giants Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific.
As The New York Times reported, the proposed merger would have the benefit of creating the first rail network in the U.S. that would span from coast to coast and would run through 43 different states by linking Norfolk Southern's eastern railroads with Union Pacific's western rail network.
On the downside, however, it would represent a massive consolidation of the American rail industry by giving one corporation control of roughly 40% of rail freight throughout the U.S., and it was immediately panned by labor leaders as bad for railway workers.
SMART Transportation Division (SMART-TD), America's largest railroad operating union, said that "our labor organization has every intention to oppose this merger when it comes before the Surface Transportation Board for approval."
The union specified multiple concerns about the deal, including what it described as Union Pacific's "troubling safety record" under its current management.
"Publicly available data from recent years reveals [Union Pacific] leads the industry in accidents, incidents, injuries, and fatalities," the union said. "This trend reflects a broader corporate culture that, in our view, prioritizes aggressive operating ratios over worker and public safety."
SMART-TD also criticized Union Pacific for having "a pattern of disengagement and hostility" toward labor relations, while also expressing concerns that Norfolk Southern, which it describes as having "more progressive labor and operation policies," could adopt Union Pacific's tactics under a merger.
The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS) raised similar concerns about worker safety and laid out a list of demands that would have to be met before it would give the merger its blessing. Namely, the union said that "safety standards must be strengthened not sidelined, in the name of efficiency," and that "signal staffing must not be cut further." BRS also demanded "direct labor consultation during all phases of integration" and "enforceable safety guarantees and transparency in operational changes."
Just 32% of respondents—including only 8% of Democrats—said they backed Israel in a new Gallup poll.
As the Palestinian death toll from Israel's obliteration of Gaza officially topped 60,000—likely a significant undercount—a Gallup poll released Tuesday revealed that U.S. public support for Israel's war on the Palestinian enclave plummeted to an all-time low, even before the widespread publication of horrifying images of Gazan children dying of starvation.
According to the Gallup survey of 1,002 U.S. adults conducted between July 7-21, 32% of overall respondents said they approve of Israel's war on Gaza launched in response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack. That's down from 42% in September 2024 and 50% in October 2023.
Conversely, 60% of overall respondents now disapprove of Israel's war, which is the subject of an ongoing International Court of Justice genocide case filed by South Africa. That's up from 48% disapproval last September and 45% in October 2023.
Those polled were sharply divided along partisan lines. Republican respondents were the only group whose support for Israel's war increased, with 71% approving in the new poll, up from 66% in September 2024 and matching the 71% approval rating in October 2023.f
Among Independents, only 25% said they approved of the war, down from 41% in September 2024 and 47% in October 2023.
Democratic approval of Israel's war dipped into the single digits for the first time, with just 8% supporting the action. That's a precipitous plunge from Democrats' 24% approval in September 2024 and 36% in October 2023.
For the first time in Gallup's survey, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's overall approval among Americans dipped into negative territory, with 52% of respondents viewing him unfavorably. Just 29% of respondents said they had a favorable view of Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza including murder and forced starvation.
The new Gallup poll was published on the same day that the Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll in the Palestinian enclave topped 60,000 amid relentless Israeli bombing, daily attacks on aid-seekers, and a worsening starvation crisis. Most of those killed have been women and children. The ministry said at least 147 Palestinians—88 of them children—have died of severe malnutrition since October 2023.
At least 145,870 Palestinians have also been wounded, and approximately 14,000 others are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath rubble.
Multiple peer-reviewed studies in the esteemed British medical journal The Lancet have concluded that Gaza Health Ministry casualty figures are likely a vast undercount.
A separate poll of New York City Democratic primary voters published Tuesday by Data for Progress and the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project for Semafor found that 78% believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, 79% want the U.S. to restrict arms transfers to Israel, and 63% say that the next mayor of New York City should enforce the ICC warrant for Netanyahu's arrest.
The poll revealed that a +42-point net favorability rating for New York City Democratic mayoral nominee and Palestine defender Zohran Mamdani, -12-point net favorability for Independent challenger Andrew Cuomo, and -62-point net favorability for Eric Adams, who is also running independently.