1. Monthly archive
  2. May 2017

May 2017

John Oliver may have helped spur 150,000 comments to FCC on network neutrality

Nearly 200,000 people have already commented on network neutrality to the Federal Communications Commission — many likely spurred on by HBO's John Oliver. The comedian and host of the premium pay-TV channel's Last Week Tonight With John Oliver urged viewers to go to the FCC's web site to voice their support for current net neutrality regulations passed in 2015. The FCC had prepared for a new round of public comment after FCC Chairman Ajit Pai began the process of reconsidering the net neutrality rules, which require Internet service providers to treat all legal content equally. When the rules were being debated three years ago, Oliver's encouragement to file comments to the FCC during a June 2014 episode crashed the agency's site. On his latest episode, which debuted Sunday night, Oliver urged viewers with a Shakespearean, "once more into the breach." They apparently responded, with net neutrality comments rising from about 30,000 Monday morning to more than 184,650 by midday May 9.

President Trump dismisses FBI Director Comey

FBI Director James B. Comey has been dismissed by the president, according to White House spokesman Sean Spicer - a startling move that officials said stemmed from a conclusion by Justice Department officials that he had mishandled the probe of Hillary Clinton’s e-mails. Comey was fired as he is leading a counterintelligence investigation to determine whether associates of President Trump may have coordinated with Russia to meddle with the presidential election in 2016. That probe began quietly last July but has now become the subject of intense debate in Washington.

It is unclear how Comey’s dismissal will affect that investigation. “The president has accepted the recommendation of the Attorney General and the deputy Attorney General regarding the dismissal of the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Spicer said.

White House circulates negative stories about Comey after firing

The White House circulated negative press clippings on FBI Director James Comey minutes after announcing his firing May 9. The one-page sheet circulated by the White House contained four stories, most of them about Democrats criticizing Comey's decision to disclose developments in the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server. One of the clips was a Wall Street Journal editorial calling for Comey’s resignation because “he has lost the trust of nearly everyone in Washington, along with every American who believes the FBI must maintain its reputation as a politically impartial federal agency.”

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