March, 12 2019, 12:00am EDT
Net Neutrality Activists Launch Updated Congressional Scoreboard and Set March 15th Deadline for Lawmakers to Cosponsor the Save the Internet Act
Groups behind BattleForTheNet.com pledge to call, text, and email constituents of lawmakers who fail to cosponsor net neutrality bill after returning from recess
WASHINGTON
Today, activists behind BattleForTheNet.com launched an updated Congressional "scoreboard" showing where every member of Congress stands on the Save The Internet Act to overturn the FCC's repeal of basic open Internet protections. The announcement comes as Communications and Technology subcommittee members convene on Capitol Hill to discuss net neutrality legislation. The activists have given lawmakers until COB March 15th-right before they leave for the March in-district recess-to cosponsor the bill, otherwise groups promise to unleash a flood of calls, emails, and tweets from their district.
The updated scoreboard shows which members of Congress truly support net neutrality by cosponsoring the Save the Internet Act, and reveals how much they've taken in campaign contributions from telecom companies. The scoreboard is a project of BattleForTheNet.com, a net neutrality action site maintained by Fight for the Future, Demand Progress, and Free Press Action Fund.
Today's announcement also comes on the heels of a new crowdfunding campaign launched by Fight for the Future late last night to put up a billboard in Phoenix targeting Senator Kyrsten Sinema, the only Democratic member of the Senate who has not cosponsored the bill.
"Enough is enough. There are absolutely no excuses for not supporting this bill," said Evan Greer, deputy director of Fight for the Future (pronouns: she/her). "Voters from across the political spectrum are pissed off and have made it very clear that they want strong net neutrality rules back in place as soon as possible. At this point, members of Congress can consider themselves on notice: if you choose to put the telecom giants ahead of your constituents, we will make sure that every single one of your constituents knows you sold them out for cable money. You have until close of business on Friday, March 15th."
"It is unreal that there is any member of Congress who is still on the wrong side of this issue," said Free Press Action Fund Campaign Director Candace Clement. "The Save The Internet Act is exactly the right way to safeguard Net Neutrality. It draws on the overwhelming bipartisan support for real Net Neutrality, including support among vast majorities of Republican, Democratic and independent voters. And it fixes the Trump FCC's massive mistake when it repealed the Open Internet Order in 2017. People, by the millions, protested that FCC decision, and they've rejected the empty rhetoric and lies of phone- and cable-industry lobbyists. It's time every member of Congress did the same and joined us in support of the Save The Internet Act."
"For lawmakers who claim to stand for their constituents and against special interests in Washington, supporting this bill should be one of the easiest things they do this year," said Mark Stanley, director of communications for Demand Progress. "The Save the Internet Act restores strong net neutrality protections that benefit every person who depends on the open internet to access information, communicate, or run a small business. The tired attacks hurled at this bill and similar measures have proven to be based on industry-backed lies, time and again. Simply put, there's no excuse -- every lawmaker should get behind the Save the Internet Act to restore crucial and commonsense protections for their constituents."
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
62% of Americans Agree US Government Should Ensure Everyone Has Health Coverage
The new poll shows the highest level of support in a decade for the government ensuring all Americans have healthcare.
Dec 09, 2024
Public sentiment regarding the nation's for-profit healthcare system—an outlier among wealthy nations—has dominated the national news in recent days following last week's killing of an insurance executive in New York.
On Monday, just hours before a suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was arrested by police, a new Gallup poll found a 62% majority in the U.S. believe the government should ensure all Americans have healthcare coverage—the highest percentage in more than a decade.
Just 42% of people in 2013 believed it was the government's responsibility to make sure everyone in the country had health coverage—a low since the beginning of this century.
The poll found that a majority of Republicans still believe ensuring health coverage is not the government's job, but the majority has shrunk since 2020.
That year, only 22% of Republican voters believed the government should ensure everyone in the country has healthcare, but that number has now grown to 32%.
The percentage of Independents who think the issue is in the government's purview has also gone up by six points since 2020, and Democratic support remains high, currently at 90%.
Americans have vented their frustrations about the current for-profit health insurance system in recent days as police searched for a suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, before arresting Luigi Mangione in Pennsylvania on Monday. Mangione, according to claims by police, was found with a manifesto that railed against the insurance industry.
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield last week also faced public outcry and was forced to reverse a decision to slash coverage for anesthesia care, with U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) saying the move indicated that "the current system is broken."
"Democrats will regain trust by standing up to special interest insurance companies and fighting for Medicare for All," he said.
President-elect Donald Trump and other Republicans, who are set to control both chambers of Congress starting in January, have indicated that they would go in the opposite direction, working to weaken the popular, government-run Medicare program by promoting Medicare Advantage, which is administered by for-profit companies like United and is already used by half of Medicare beneficiaries.
But one of Trump's top allies, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, waded into the debate last week about the current healthcare system, questioning why the U.S. pays far more in administrative healthcare costs than other wealthy countries and suggesting Americans don't "get their money's worth."
Another poll released last Friday found Americans' positive opinion of the nation's healthcare quality has declined to its lowest point since 2001, with most agreeing the U.S. system dominated by private insurers has "major problems."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Police Say Luigi Mangione, Suspected Killer of Insurance CEO, Had 'Ill Will Toward Corporate America'
Mangione, who was arrested Monday in Pennsylvania five days after UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down in Manhattan, was reportedly in possession of an anti-corporate manifesto.
Dec 09, 2024
This is a breaking news story... Please check back later for possible updates.
Luigi Mangione—the 26-year-old man arrested in Pennsylvania Monday on gun charges and is suspected of last week's assassination of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson—was carrying a manifesto condemning insurance industry greed, police said after his apprehension.
Mangione, a Maryland native who according to his social media profiles has a master's degree in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, was apprehended after being recognized in a MacDonald's in Altoona after an employee recognized him,
The New York Timesreported.
New York Police Department (NYPD) Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione was in possession of a 9mm handgun—possibly a ghost gun made with numerous parts or a 3-D printer—the type used to kill Thompson, as well as a silencer and what she described as an anti-corporate manifesto.
"It does seem he has some ill will toward corporate America," Kenny said.
According toCNN, Mangione wrote in the document that he acted alone and was "self-funded."
"I do apologize for any strife or trauma," the manifesto stated, "but it had to be done. These parasites had it coming."
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch claimed that Mangione was also carrying a fake New Jersey ID matching the one the suspected killed used to check into a New York City hostel 10 days before Thomspon was gunned down in broad daylight in Manhattan with a silencer-equipped gun firing 9mm bullets.
Three bullet casings were inscribed with the words "deny," "defend," and "depose"—a phrase commonly used by critics to describe insurance industry tactics to avoid paying patient claims. UnitedHealth, the nation's biggest private insurer, is notorious for denying more claims than any other insurance company.
Mangione's social media posts run the gamut from praising the opinions of right-wing figures like Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson to leaving positive reviews on Goodreads for books including Dr. Seuss' cautionary environmental tale The Lorax and the manifesto of Theodore Kaczynski—better known as the Unabomber.
"He had the balls to recognize that peaceful protest has gotten us absolutely nowhere and at the end of the day, he's probably right," Mangione controversially opined of Kaczynski, whom he called "an extreme political revolutionary."
"When all other forms of communication fail, violence is necessary to survive," he asserted.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Gaza Ministry Says 50 Killed in a Day as Israel Bombs Flour Line, Hospital, and Refugee Camps
"We demand international protection for hospitals, patients, and medical staff," said the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Dec 09, 2024
The death toll from Israel's 14-month assault on the Gaza Strip hit at least 44,758 on Monday, with 50 people killed in the past 24 hours alone, as Israeli forces bombed refugee camps, a flour distribution line, and a hospital, according to reporters and officials in the Palestinian enclave.
The Gaza Ministry of Health said a bombing at the Indonesian Hospital north of Gaza City wounded six patients—who are now among more than 106,000 Palestinians injured since Israel began its retaliation for last year's Hamas-led attack.
"We demand international protection for hospitals, patients, and medical staff," the ministry said in a statement reported by The Associated Press—which noted that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed Sunday evening it was unaware of any attack on the hospital "in the last three to four hours."
A nurse shared footage from the hospital with Drop Site News, which circulated the material on social media:
According toAl Jazeera, "Overnight, an Israeli attack in the southern city of Rafah also killed 10 people while they had lined up to buy flour."
Israel, which faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice, has been accused of starving Gaza's 2.3 million residents by refusing to allow enough humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave.
Reporting from central Deir al-Balah, Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud said that at least three people were killed in a Monday morning attack on the Jabalia refugee camp in the north that Israeli bombing and the ongoing blockade have "turned into a graveyard."
The victims "were trying to leave their home in search of food in the vicinity of their neighborhood when they were targeted by a drone," the journalist said. "They were killed right away. Their bodies are still in the street and nobody has the ability to get to the bombed site and remove the bodies from the street."
The IDF announced that three soldiers were killed and 12 others were wounded Monday in fighting in Jabalia.
Mahmoud, the journalist, also said Monday that bodies were piling up outside al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital after an Israeli bombing at the Bureij refugee camp.
"The agony keeps on unfolding here at al-Aqsa Hospital, where survivors and relatives showed up early this morning to collect the bodies from the morgue of the hospital," he said. "At some point, the morgue of the hospital was packed with the bodies and there was not enough room for more bodies."
Citing the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Middle East Eyereported that "two children lost their lives, and others were injured on Monday, during Israeli shelling of al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip."
The updates followed a Hamas delegation led by Khalil al-Hayya leaving Cairo Sunday evening after meeting with Egypt's general intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Hassan Rashad, to discuss a potential cease-fire in Gaza.
Israeli media reported Sunday that unnamed political sources claimed Hamas and Israel are close to reaching a "small" deal that would involve a two-month cease-fire; the release of prisoners who are elderly, women, wounded, and sick; and the IDF's withdrawal from parts of Gaza.
Neither Hamas nor mediators Egypt and Qatar have commented on the reporting—which came over a week into an Israeli cease-fire with the Lebanese group Hezbollah that Israel has repeatedly violated since it took effect late last month.
In neighboring Syria, the government of President Bashar al-Assad collapsed over the weekend as he fled and rebels took control of the capital. Israel seized more of the country's Golan Heights, which it has illegally occupied for decades, and the United States—which arms the IDF—launched airstrikes on over 75 Islamic State targets in Syria.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular