SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
January, 30 2019, 11:00pm EDT
Contact:
Evan Greer, 508-474-5248, press@fightforthefuture.org
Web Activists Keep Hope for Net Neutrality Alive as Open Internet Defenders Take the FCC to Court
Ajit Pai’s repeal of basic Internet protections on shaky legal ground as Internet activists continue to fight in Congress and at the state level
WASHINGTON
Tomorrow, net neutrality will get it's day in court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral arguments in the legal challenge to Ajit Pai's reckless and resoundingly unpopular repeal of open Internet protections, brought by a coalition of startups, states, and public interest groups.
Digital rights group Fight for the Future, which has been behind the largest online protests in history and mobilized tens of millions of people to defend net neutrality, issued the following statement, which can be attributed to Deputy Director Evan Greer (pronouns: she/her):
" Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T are going to wish they never picked this fight with the Internet. More than a year after the repeal of net neutrality people are still outraged and paying close attention. Ajit Pai's FCC blatantly ignored public opinion and acted with reckless disregard for the law in order to give a massive government handout to some of the most power-hungry corporations in the US.
Telecom lobbyists were hoping that we would have given up by now. They thought they could outspend and outlast us. They were wrong. Internet activists are continuing to fight in the courts, in Congress, and in the states. Net neutrality is coming back with a vengeance. It's only a matter of time."
Fight for the Future has been calling on Congress to conduct a thorough investigation of Ajit Pai's corrupt actions at the FCC, and is pushing for lawmakers to act to restore net neutrality while opposing weak legislation pushed by telecom lobbyists that would undermine the open Internet while claiming to save it.
Fight for the Future is a group of artists, engineers, activists, and technologists who have been behind the largest online protests in human history, channeling Internet outrage into political power to win public interest victories previously thought to be impossible. We fight for a future where technology liberates -- not oppresses -- us.
(508) 368-3026LATEST NEWS
Iran Accuses Europe of 'Appeasing Aggressors' as Trump Launches New Military Attacks
A spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry slammed the leadership of the European Union for "blaming Iran for exercising its right to self-defense against US aggression launched from bases in neighboring countries."
Jun 01, 2026
Iran's government on Monday condemned the European Union's response to Iranian attacks on US military installations in the Middle East as "a masterclass in selective moral outrage" as the Trump administration launched new strikes against Iran over the weekend, with peace talks still at an impasse.
Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, accused EU leaders of "blaming Iran for exercising its right to self-defense against US aggression launched from bases in neighboring countries," referring to Iran's attacks on US air bases in Kuwait. Baqaei said Iran's strikes "against those bases and assets that are used to launch unlawful attacks against Iran are a lawful exercise of self-defense."
"The EU must remain faithful to the rule of law and the principles of the UN Charter that it has long claimed to uphold. It must stop appeasing aggressors while blaming those who respond to unlawful attacks," Baqaei added. "States have an established legal obligation not to allow their territory or assets to be used for invading other countries."
Baqaei's statement came in response to remarks from a European Commission spokesperson condemning an Iranian attack on a US air base in Kuwait last week, calling it a violation of Kuwait's sovereignty. The attack reportedly injured at least four US servicemembers and several American contractors.
The Iranian military said it targeted another US air base on Sunday in response to new attacks by the Trump administration, which launched its illegal war against Iran in late February. While Iran did not specify the location of its target, Kuwait said late Sunday that its "air defenses are currently confronting hostile missile and drone attacks."
The Iranian attacks followed the US military's announcement that it carried out strikes on "Iranian radar and command and control sites for drones" over the weekend. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) described the attacks as "self-defense strikes" and as a "measured and deliberate response" to "aggressive Iranian actions."
Brian Finucane, a senior adviser to the US Program at the International Crisis Group, wrote in response to CENTCOM's statement that "this administration’s use of the terms 'aggression' and 'self-defense' [is] thoroughly in 'war is peace' territory."
The US military also attacked a Gambia-flagged commercial ship in the Gulf of Oman over the weekend, enforcing a Trump administration naval blockade that Iran has condemned as illegal and said must be lifted as part of any peace agreement.
CBS News reported Saturday that "the broad strokes" of a peace deal under consideration "include a 60-day cessation of violence, along with clauses that call for reopening the strait and a framework to reopen negotiations on Iran's nuclear program."
"Multiple sources told CBS that the arrangement also involves the potential of waivers or sanctions relief to Iran that could allow it to access billions in frozen assets depending on the progress of the diplomacy," the outlet added.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's top negotiator, said early Monday that the Trump administration's naval blockade and Israel's "escalation of war crimes in Lebanon" represent "clear evidence of US noncompliance with the ceasefire."
"Every choice has a price, and the bill comes due," he added. "It will all fall into place."
US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, wrote on his social media platform that "Iran really wants to make a deal, and it will be a good one for the USA and those that are with us."
"Just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end," Trump declared.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Watch: Trump Admits 'We Shouldn't Have Been in Iran'
The president also simultaneously claimed to have left Iran's military alone and destroyed its navy and air force.
May 31, 2026
President Donald Trump said Saturday during an interview with his daughter-in-law that the US should not have waged war on Iran, while making contradictory claims about destroying Iran's military and leaving it alone.
“You look at what happened with Iraq. We did so bad. It was such a foolish thing what we did. We shouldn’t have been there in the first place, by the way,” Trump told Lara Trump, who hosts Fox News' "My View."
“We shouldn’t have been in Iran, but Iran has the capability," he said, referring to the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.
Former US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last year that “Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and [the late] Supreme Leader Khamanei had not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.” US intelligence agencies have repeatedly come to the same conclusion since the George W. Bush administration.
Trump claimed that without US bombing, Iran "would have a nuclear weapon right now and will be a whole different story."
“If we didn’t hit them with B-2 bombers, nine months ago, they would have a nuclear weapon right now," he said.
"Their military, we've sort of left it alone because we think that their military is somewhat moderate," Trump said right after saying that "their navy is gone, 100%," and "their air force is gone, 100%."
The president also claimed that he will negotiate a "great" end to the war with Iran, or "we'll just go back and finish it off militarily."
"We're close to a very good deal," he said.
You saw Venezuela," Trump said, referring to the country the US bombed and invaded in January to abduct President Nicolás Maduro and bring him to the United States to face dubious narco-terrorism charges.
At least 3,468 people have been killed in US-Israeli attacks on Iran since February 28, according to Iran’s Ministry of Health, including 496 women and 376 children.
Keep ReadingShow Less
As Most Acts Bail, Trump Floats Replacing Freedom 250 Shows With 'Number One Attraction Anywhere'—Himself
Trump called himself "the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime," and "the man who some say is the Greatest President in History (THE GOAT)!"
May 31, 2026
As an increasing number of artists cancel their scheduled performances at the "Great American State Fair" created by the Trump administration to celebrate the US semiquincentennial, President Donald Trump on Saturday called for scrapping the concerts and replacing them with a rally headlined by himself.
"We should have a giant MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN RALLY, for 250, instead of having overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain," Trump wrote on his Truth Social network. "Cancel it, just like I canceled my involvement with the failing and unsafe to be in Kennedy Center, because a Highly Conflicted, Crooked Federal Judge, said that I should not be allowed to spend my time and money in order to MAKE THE CENTER GREAT AGAIN, actually, far greater than it ever was before!"
"I understand Artists are getting 'the yips' having to do with their performance on Wednesday," the president said in an earlier Truth post on Saturday, "so I am thinking about bringing the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World, the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime, and he does so without a guitar, the man who loves our Country more than anyone else, and the man who some say is the Greatest President in History (THE GOAT!), DONALD J. TRUMP, to take the place of these highly paid, Third Rate 'Artists,' and give a major speech, rallying the Country forward like I have done ever since being President!"
"I don’t want so-called 'Artists' that get paid far too much money, who aren’t happy," he wrote. "So, by copy of this TRUTH, I am ordering my Representatives to look at the feasibility of doing an AMERICA IS BACK Rally on Wednesday, Washington, DC, same time, same location. Only Great Patriots invited—It will be a Wild and Beautiful Celebration of America!"
Artists who have bailed on the concerts, also known as the Freedom 250 shows, include Young MC, The Commodores, Morris Day and The Time, Bret Michaels, and Martina McBride. Some of the musicians said they were misled about the partisan nature of the event.
“I was presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event, but that turned out to be misleading,” McBride—a four-time winner of the Country Music Association female artist of the year award—wrote in an Instagram post. “I asked lots of questions and was assured this was a nonpartisan event that was meant to celebrate ALL 50 states.”
Remaining in the lineup as of Saturday are Vanilla Ice and Flo Rida, while C+C Music Factory and Milli Vanilli have given mixed signals.
The cancellations are a major embarrassment for Trump. Prior to the cancellations, the event was already being mocked for what the Daily Beast's Cameron Adams described as a “lack of A-list musical talent."
Comedian Bill Maher was among those mocking Trump for the Freedom 250 disaster.
“That’s got to hurt a lot when you can’t close the deal with Milli Vanilli," Maher said Friday on his Real Time show on HBO.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular